Pressing Play
by SereneCalamity
Summary: A series of song inspired oneshots to each letter of the alphabet. Multiple pairings. Requests now closed. Mainly Clace, with Malec and Sizzy.
1. A : A Thousand Years

_Hey, guys! So here we go! For those of you who are here brand new and not because you've read my authors notes in previous stories; this is going to be 26 oneshots based on different_ Mortal Instruments _characters, mainly ships, and mainly Clace. They are all based on songs, to the different letters of the alphabet, and they're all requests. I do still have a couple a letters that are available for request, so if you're curious, send me a PM and I'll let you know what ones are still free._

 _With the requests, it was mainly first in, first served. But I did try and make it fair, so that I used at least one song requested by each person. And I also had to pick and choose a little with the songs, because they had to be songs that I could actually write about, so that might be why I didn't choose some songs. I hope you guys enjoy it!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the songs._

 **A : _A Thousand Years -_ Christina Perri**  
 **Requested by _Luvmortalinstruments_  
**

 _Time stands still_  
 _Beauty in all she is_  
 _I will be brave_  
 _I will not let anything take away_  
 _What's standing in front of me_  
 _Every breath_  
 _Every hour has come to this_  
 _One step closer_

 _I have died every day waiting for you_  
 _Darling, don't be afraid I have loved you_  
 _For a thousand years_  
 _I'll love you for a thousand more_

Jace Wayland let out a long breath as he walked quietly into the bedroom. It was almost two in the morning, and his body was exhausted, begging desperately for him to collapse onto his bed and curl around itself into a ball, and fall asleep. He and Alec Lightwood had been out hunting for almost two days now, and he hadn't caught a second of sleep in all that time—barely even gotten to sit down and rest his feet in all that time. He pulled off his shirt and dropped it to the ground, kicking it to the corner of the room and then thought better of it, picking the shirt up and putting it into the washing basket beside the door.

His wife would have his head if he reverted back to bad teenage habits.

He walked back out into the hallway, back into the bathroom where he had turned on the shower before going into the bedroom. He finished undressing and stepped into the hot spray of the shower. His moan of content filled the tiled room as the shower soothed his aching body, rushing over his tired muscles, his mind slowly settling after the two days of needing to be constantly alert.

There had been a nest of vampires that had broken their agreement, and starting hunting innocent mundanes. Downworlders had a way of finding loop holes in agreements, but outright tearing the throats out of anyone who crossed their paths was a blatant violation of the treaty. Jace and Alec had been a part of the hunting party that had gone after them. Isabelle Lightwood had also come with them, along with Max Lightwood, the youngest of the siblings. It had been his first proper hunt, so he had been filled with a ridiculous amount of excited energy.

That had worn off quickly.

Especially after he had been told that he had to leave his 'emergency stash' behind. The emergency stash had consisted of pretty much every kind of chocolate that he could get his hands on.

The hunt had been successful, but they had all walked away feeling drained and injured. Jace had been slashed across his chest and one of his arms, but they were healing quickly from the runes he had burnt into his skin. Now he was home, and as soon as he was done with the shower, washing away the grime and sweat and blood of the hunt, he was climbing into bed with his woman.

"Hey," came a soft voice from the doorway, and Jace jerked in surprise. Clarissa Fray-Wayland stood there, blinking sleepily at him, wearing only a pair of lace underwear and a loose shirt—one of his—her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"Shit, sorry," he winced as he wiped his hand across the glass of the shower, looking through the mist at her. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"You know I don't sleep well when you're not here," she shrugged and pulled off her shirt, dropping it to the ground and then shimmying out of her underwear, stepping into the shower with him once she was naked. Jace sucked his lower lip into his mouth as he took in her body, still getting that same, flushed feeling rushing over him as he had when he had first fallen for her. He put his hands on her hips, dropping his head so that it was resting against the curve of her neck.

The life that they lead was a crazy one.

Before Jace had met Clary, it had been just one day after another, all blurring together. Just one fight after another, every bruise and cut and slash becoming one, no longer able to differentiate. He didn't really have a plan, he was just following the path that had been laid out in front of him by his father. Even when he had met the Lightwoods, and they showed him the love and friendship that he hadn't experienced before, it still wasn't quite enough to pull him out of the haze that was his life; everything in shades of grey.

But then there was Clary.

Clary was strong, and beautiful, and incredible, and there had been this insane pull toward her. Her and Isabelle were good friends, but she had travelled with her parents and her brother most of her life, so he only met her a few days after his nineteenth birthday. Despite all of his confidence, he had been completely surprised when she had felt the same way as him. Sure, she had tried to hide it at first, pretty much ignoring him outright, until one day, he had caught her walking down a hallway in the Institute, and had grabbed her, thrown her against the wall, and kissed her until she had no option but to kiss back.

And then they had been inseparable.

Clary was the one who had made everything he was doing so much more meaningful. Alec had Magnus Bane, and Isabelle...Well, Isabelle had anyone that she laid her eyes on, but while Jace had been with a couple of girls, it had never been enough for him.

It had never been like Clary.

She brought light into his life, as cheesy as that sounded.

And now, he still had her. He had a ring on her finger and he had a life with her. At the moment, she was standing in front of him, both hands rubbing up and down his back, kissing his shoulder and soothing him, even though it was the middle of the night, and she should most _definitely_ be in bed.

"You should be asleep," Jace murmured as he lifted his head and looked down at her. She stared back up at him, meeting his gaze. Her eyes had always been bright green, intuitive and gorgeous, but for the past few months, they had been glowing in a way that made his entire body ache with love for her. It wasn't just her eyes at had been changing; her entire body was radiant, filling out curves in places she had never really had before. "You're sleeping for two now, remember?" Jace whispered as he rubbed her slightly rounded stomach softly.

"He couldn't sleep without his daddy," Clary replied, a slight catch in her throat. Jace's head snapped up at her words and she let out a noise that sounded like a cross between a huff of laughter and a sob, both of them getting caught in her throat.

" _He_?" Jace managed to rasp out.

"I had a scan this morning," she nodded.

"We're having a boy?" He still sounded as though he was processing it, even though Clary knew that he was overjoyed. She could tell, because his eyes were starting to tear up, just like they had when she had first told him that she was pregnant.

"We're having a boy," she confirmed, reaching up on her tip-toes to push her lips against his.

She was everything he needed.

Her and their son.

 _I know, I know, this one is pretty damn sappy. Usually I'm not into sappy, but this song makes me all melted inside. Haha. Let me know what you think :) Your reviews make me one happy brunette ;) xx_

 _Oh aaaaaaaand I'm off to see_ Batman vs Superman _tonight! Whoop whoop! Batman all the way!_


	2. B : Back To December

_Oh God, guys. That Malec kiss?_

 _I'm dead._

 _Fucking dead, I tell you._

 _And it was a proper kiss as well, not just some quick peck on the mouth. I was very impressed :P_

 _And it got me all inspired for this chapter, and I'm posting a week early! So here we go..._

 **B : _Back To December -_** **Taylor Swift  
Requested by **_**Luvmortalinstruments**_

 _These days I haven't been sleeping,  
_ _Staying up, playing back myself leavin'  
_ _When your birthday passed and I didn't call  
_ _And I think about summer, all the beautiful times  
_ _I watched you laughing from the passenger side  
_ _Realized I loved you in the fall_

 _And then the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind  
_ _You gave me all your love and all I gave you was "Goodbye"_

 _So this is me swallowing my pride  
_ _Standing in front of you saying, "I'm sorry for that night"  
_ _And I go back to December all the time  
_ _It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you  
_ _Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine  
_ _I'd go back to December, turn around and change my own mind  
_ _I go back to December all the time_

Alec Lightwood sighed as he scrubbed a hand over his face. The numbers and letters on the page in front of them were all starting to blur together and he let out a frustrated groan, slamming his hands down on the desk in front of him and shoving at them, sending pens and loose papers flying across the room. He blinked and saw the mess that he had created and sighed again, running his fingers through his hair, sending his perfectly styled dark hair into a messy disarray of spikes.

"Mr Lightwood?" A voice came from the doorway and his secretary, Aline Penhallow, poked her head in. She saw the mess of files and pens and raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it. "I'm about to head off for the night. Is there anything else that you need?" Alec didn't say anything, shaking his head mutely, and it looked as though Aline was about to leave, but then she came into the room. Aline had been with him since he had first moved to Seattle, she was the first person that he had met, and she was the only one that knew about what he had left behind to be here, except for his best friend, Jace Wayland, and his sister, Isabelle Lightwood. "You're going tonight, right?" She asked him softly, standing next to him, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

"I don't know," Alec managed to choke out, hating the way he sounded in that moment. Aline pursed her lips together, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"You need to go tonight," she said, dropping a kiss to his cheek before walking out of the office, stepping carefully around the chaos of papers on the floor and closing the door behind her. Alec stared at the closed door, swallowing hard but somehow not able to get rid of the lump in his throat. The longer he sat there, the scratchier his eyes got and his skin felt tight and uncomfortable, like it was shrinking around him.

Aline was right.

He had to go.

It had been almost a year now since he had left, and the pain that made his chest ache as though something had been ripped away from him was still as raw as the day it had happened. Every night, he told himself that the next day would get easier, that everyone knew that time healed all wounds. But then every morning, he would wake up, and his entire body throbbed as though he was missing a limb. It was completely ridiculous, really—he had only known Magnus Bane for two months, and yet it was his face he saw every time he closed his eyes.

The plan had always been the same. The Lightwoods owned one of the largest accounting firms in the country, and when they expanded into Seattle, they wanted their oldest son to manage the new firm. Alec had never had a problem with it before. Despite how boring it made him sound, he loved his work. It made complete sense to him; math and numbers always made sense. He had run into Magnus at a charity event that his parents and sister had dragged him to. He had originally planned to eat his meal and have a glass of whiskey and schmooze with a couple of parents contacts and then make a break for it as soon as his family got distracted. But Isabelle had other plans, introducing him to Magnus, a new up and coming fashion designer with catlike eyes and an entrancing voice.

They had been inseparable.

At first, it had all been fun. Well, mostly sex. Sex and take out. But then it had escalated into something more, and they were going to the movies, out for dinner at fancy restaurants and Magnus was coming out to brunch on Sundays with Alec, Isabelle, Isabelle's fiancé Simon Lewis, Jace and his wife, Clarissa Fray-Wayland.

Alec had never ever felt this way about anyone before.

Then the tenth of December had come around, and Alec had to say goodbye. He had put off telling Magnus as long as he could, not wanting this daydream to end. When he had, Magnus had tried to convince him that they could make it work. It was only a five hour flight, and sure, they wouldn't be able to see each other as much as they were now, but they would be okay. People did long distance relationships all the time. Everything he was saying, Alec had already thought about though.

But it wouldn't be fair.

It wouldn't be fair to either of them. They were both at such crucial points in their career, both of them were just going to get busier and busier. Magnus was flying out to fashion shows every other week, and Alec was going to be running a whole firm by himself, needing to establish that this business was going to operate with the same integrity as the rest of the company. And yes, while people did do long relationships all the time, the actual success rate of them working out in the long run wasn't particularly high. It would just result in making this pain that had been keeping him up at night drag out longer than it needed to, and he couldn't do that to himself, or to Magnus.

So as much as it killed him, he had said goodbye.

He had thought that he could stay friends with the gorgeous Indonesian man, but every time his name popped up on his Facebook newsfeed, or he simply saw an article about him in the paper, he thought he was going to throw up. So he had deleted Magnus' number, blocked him on Facebook so that he couldn't even see anything that one of their mutual friends tagged him in and tried to get on with his life.

Aline took him under her wing, showing him the sights and introducing him to her gorgeous girlfriend and setting him up with a couple of guys. She seemed to know there was something holding him back, but it wasn't until one night when she found him ass over heels drunk in a dive bar eight months after his move, a sobbing mess, that he had bared his soul to her, and she had found out about Magnus. She had told him that if he was still feeling this way, then he should get in contact with him, the least he could do is try. The worst that could happen was that Magnus had moved on. It would sting, but then he wouldn't be left with this _'what if'_ feeling, and he could properly move on. But he had refused, saying that there was no way he could deal with loosing Magnus a second time.

It was Helen Blackthorn, Aline's girlfriend, who had seen that Magnus was coming into town for a fashion show. Alec had tried to talk them out of it, but the next thing he knew, they had pulled some strings and got him an invite to a fancy dinner party that a bunch of the fashion world was holding to show off their new Spring line.

Alec was still adamant that he was going, but it was now the day of, and the invite was pinned to his fridge, taunting him every single morning that he woke up, but he couldn't take it down. The dinner was in two hours, and Alec was sitting at his desk at work, agonizing about what he was going to do.

Aline was right.

He had to go.

He would wake up tomorrow morning, that stone of despair in his stomach weighing him down like it did every other morning, except tomorrow, it would be worse.

Because he would know that he has lost his chance.

Alec got up, not bothering with the mess he had created, and leaving his office. He went to the elevator, stabbing the lower ground button impatiently. His car was right next to where the elevator let out, one of the perks of being the boss, and he got inside. By the time he got home in Friday night traffic, he only had an hour and a half to get ready and to get there. The invitation stated Black Tie, but from the events he had accompanied Magnus to, he knew that it was expensive Black Tie. So after showering, he found the tuxedo that Isabelle had brought him for the charity event that he had originally met Magnus at, and a deep purple button down shirt that Aline had brought especially for the occasion. He secured a tie around his neck and then stared at his reflection.

He had been called handsome enough times to believe it, but he still didn't think he was anything special. He combed his hair, letting it spike just a little and spritzed on some expensive cologne before snatching the invitation off the fridge and heading out the door.

He was so nervous on the way over that he actually had to pull his car over and dry retch for a few minutes on the side of the road. Thankfully he didn't throw up, but his whole body was shaking and his hands were clenched so hard around the steering wheel that his knuckles were bloodless. Alec arrived at the event, giving the keys to his beloved Camaro to the valet and then heading up the carpeted stairs toward the gorgeous building that the event was taking place in. Alec handed over his invitation and told him where his seat would be, but he barely heard the hostess, because his eyes were ever moving around the hall, trying to find Magnus.

It really wasn't that hard.

Magnus had a way of drawing all the energy in the room to himself without even trying, and Alec found him without even really trying. He was strung so tight, he was ready to bolt in the opposite direction and right back out of the hall, when Magnus turned and looked directly at him, his captivating eyes stopping Alec's heart.

Alec was glued to the spot, not paying any attention as people bumped into him, muttering angrily about his blocking the path, but he felt like he no longer had any control over his body as Magnus excused himself from who he was talking to and made his way over. Magnus looked just as uncertain as Alec, which was such a strange look on him, given it was always Alec who was nervous and Magnus who was completely self-assured. And then he was standing directly in front of Alec, and Alec had to swallow hard, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening to fall.

It was like the whole room had fallen into silence, even though Alec knew that logically it definitely hadn't, but he couldn't hear anything; it was all just white noise. Magnus' gaze flickered over him, glossed lips pursed together, waiting for Alec to make the first move.

"I'm sorry," he finally managed to choke out. Magnus kept staring, before finally, his eyes softened and his mouth pulled upwards slightly at the corners.

"Took you long enough, Alexander."

 _What did you guys think?_

 _Also there's a couple of letters left, so if you're interested, let me know via review or PM, and I'll let you know which ones are available :)_

 _Please leave a review, they make me one bloody, happy fangirl ;) xxx_


	3. C : Can't Keep My Hands To Myself

_Next chapter, you beautiful people! Hope you guys enjoy this next chapter. And keep in mind that each chapter is a stand alone, which is why I get to play with so many different universes. So this one was inspired by Kalinda and Carey from_ The Good Wife. _I absolutely fucking love those two._

 **C : _Can't Keep My Hands To Myself -_ Selena Gomez  
Requested by **_**InuandKaglove4Life**_

 _Can't keep my hands to myself  
_ _No matter how hard I'm trying to  
_ _I want you all to myself  
_ _Your metaphorical gin and juice_

 _So come on, give me a taste  
_ _Of what it's like to be next to you  
_ _Won't let one drop go to waste  
_ _Your metaphorical gin and juice_

 _Oh, cause all of the downs and the uppers  
_ _Keep making love to each other  
_ _And I'm trying, trying, I'm trying, trying  
_ _All of the downs and the uppers  
_ _Keep making love to each other  
_ _And I'm trying, trying, I'm trying  
_ _But I..._

 _Can't keep my hands to myself  
_ _My hands to myself_

"Okay, and Jace? I want you and Clary to go back to the scene of the crime. See if you guys can pick up on anything else. Shit—if you guys can find evidence of anything else there— _anyone else_ there—we need it!" Hodge Starkweather was saying. Jace Wayland frowned and looked up from the binder he was flipping through.

"Isn't the apartment still off limits? I'm pretty sure the cops have it all cordoned off—it's still an active crime scene," Jace said.

"Yeah, well, that's why you're taking Clary," Hodge replied, clearly not at all worried about something as trivial as the law, which was ironic, given their occupation. Jace looked across at Clary, who was sitting in the corner of the room, not looking as though she's paying any attention at all to the conversation, tapping away at her phone. "Now, I want the rest of you to keep working on our defence. We have two weeks until we go to trial and this is going to be one of the biggest cases that this firm faces this year, so we need to be prepared!" The conference room was filled with lawyers, paralegals and others helping them with the case.

The murder of millionaire Raphael Santiago and subsequent arrest of his socialite girlfriend Kaelie Whitewillow had been splattered all over the newspapers and magazines for the past few months. Because of the attention the case, the trial had been moved along quickly, and the defence, _Starkweather, Lightwood & Associates_, were scrambling to get their best case together. Kaelie claimed she was innocent, but the fights between the two of them were legendary, and there had been one the day of the murder, which had been viewed by many witnesses.

"We'll take my car," Jace said as he and Clary walked down the richly carpeted hallways toward the elevator. Clary grunted under her breath, not saying anything, her eyes still trained on her phone, fingers ever moving over the screen. Jace was used to her off-handed behaviour, and he slid his hand into the pocket of his expensive suit pocket. They waited in front of the elevator, and he looked at their reflections as the elevator whizzed up toward them on the twenty-third floor where the law firm was.

Clary stuck out like a sore thumb in this place.

While everyone was in pantsuits, expensive suits and shoes, flashy jewellery and watches, there was Clary.

In a miniskirt, stockings, high heeled boots, a low cut shirt with a leather jacket over the top. Unlike the other woman in the firm in their muted make up, she had her eyes lined in black and vibrant green highlighting her eyelids and a dark red on her mouth.

She was definitely one of a kind.

The elevator arrived on their floor and the doors silently slid open. The two of them stepped inside, taking places on opposite sides of the metal box, and Jace pressed a button for the basement. The doors closed and Jace looked over at her, raising a fair eyebrow at her and pulling his lower lip into his mouth. She finally looked up from her phone, tucking it into her jacket pocket and gave him a smirk.

They were crashing together within seconds.

Jace's hand skidded up her skirt, groping at her ass through the thin material of the lacy underwear that she always wore. Clary let out a groan as his mouth moved away from her lips and down her neck. She was gripping at his broad shoulders and one of her hands found it's way to his wavy hair, jerking at the strands.

As the doors opened down in the basement, and there were two of the accountants who worked on the floor several below theirs standing there, the two of them were back to their opposite sides of the elevator. Clary was absorbed with her phone again, not even bothering to look at the two men who gave her appreciative looks and Jace gave them a nod and a short smile as they walked past. His black Jaguar XJ was parked in one of the VIP spaces, and they got inside, leaving the parking lot without talking.

The city was busy with early afternoon traffic, but as soon as they were out of the city and on their way to the Santiago mansion, Clary was unbuckling her seatbelt and reaching over. Jace grinned as she kissed his way down his neck and then rubbed her hand over his lap. He was already half hard from their make out session, and fully hard the instant her hand was on him and then she was undoing his pants and bending over him, taking him into her mouth.

Jace was good at managing distractions, but there were a couple of times Clary felt the car jerk to the side of the road as he moaned and grunted, one of his hands moving from the steering wheel and tangling his hand in her hair. When he came, Clary swallowed everything he had, swiping her hand over her mouth before straightening up, tucking in his shirt and zipping back up his pants and then leaning back in her seat. She popped a breath mint in her mouth and then rummaged around in her oversized handbag for the bottle of water she kept there, drinking a mouthful, giving him a cheeky wink.

"I'm sorry, but this is still cordoned off," Simon Lewis began as the two of them got out of his car outside of the Santiago estate. Clary just kept walking toward him, an eyebrow raised and a small smile on her face. "Clary—Clary, come on," Simon didn't look anything like the big imposing policeman he was probably meant to look like as he feebly put his arm up to stop Clary and Jace from walking past him. "Clary, you know you can't go in there—"

"Aw, come on, Si," Clary punched him lightly in the arm, easily reaching past him to open the door. "We won't be long. I promise."

"That's bullshit and you know it," Simon grumbled, glaring after them as they waltzed on in. Clary's relationship with the local PD came in handy almost every time they had a case. Her best friend as well as her soon to be step-father were both on the force, and although cops hated defence lawyers with a passion, that dislike didn't really extend to her. Jace and Clary spent over two hours in the place looking it up and down, until Clary found something that could possibly help. It wasn't much, but they were looking for anything at this point, with the trial in only two weeks.

Work was hectic over the next few weeks, anyone who was working on the case barely leaving the office except to go home and shower, change their clothes, and then come right back. Even sleeping was done in the office.

Or _not_ sleeping, in Jace and Clary's case.

It was hard to keep a secret when working in an environment that was built on secrets and lies and using any opportunity to gain leverage and get ahead. But the two of them had been seeing each other for nearly a year now, and they had managed to keep it under the radar. It helped that Clary was unapproachable to most, and given her job was specifically as an investigator and she was damn good at her job, people tried not to get on her bad side. And while Jace flirted with her, Jace flirted with everyone—it was all part of his charm—so no one gave it much thought.

"We've got..." Clary let out a growl as Jace bit at her neck, jerking up her leather skirt and pulling aside the crotch of her panties. "Nine minutes and counting."

"I can work with that," Jace panted as he hoisted her up. Clary grinned at him, the smile quickly dissolving as he pushed into her, her back sliding up the wall of the spare office they were in. His blunt nails were digging into the flesh of her ass as he pulled her back into him, over and over again. Clary bit back her sighs and moans, her lips turning swollen as she tried to keep quiet, mindful that there was a conference room full of people just down the hall from them, even though it was after eleven on a Friday night. Once they were both finished, with half a minute to spare, Jace gave her a lingering kiss on the mouth and then left the office first. Clary ducked from the office and into the bathroom, touching up her lipstick and straightening out her clothes.

The trial definitely wasn't the longest that the firm had needed to participate in, but it was a gruelling one. The State Attorney's office was coming down hard on Kaelie, and they had a solid case. Jace was second chair to Hodge, and Clary was sitting about three rows back, watching with rapt interest as they worked.

Jace was always incredible to watch.

Despite the fact that Jace came off as all easy smiles and charming words and flirty looks, once he entered the court room, he took command of everyone else there. He exuded confidence and authority, and it wasn't the first time that Clary had gotten wet watching him work. He was ripping apart every witness he got put in front of, and the jury was eating out of the palm of his hand. Even though he was completely poised and assertive when he was on show, Clary was the only one who knew how nervous he got the night before, when he was going over his notes for the three hundredth time.

It was one of the only times that she couldn't work all of the tension out of his body with her fingers, mouth and cunt.

But she certainly tried over and over again.

They won the case—unsurprisingly—and Kaelie was lapping up the media attention and fans that were waiting for her outside the massive court house. Hodge and a couple of the other lawyers who were there as well were giving interviews, but there was one vital person in the case who was noticeably absent.

"You were fucking perfect," Clary growled as she ripped open his shirt and kissed her way down his chiselled chest. Jace curled his fingers into fists, shoving one of them into his mouth to stop himself from letting out a loud groan that would attract peoples attention to the supply closet in the respected court house. She unbuckled his belt and pulled out his cock, pumping it a few times before standing up. Jace lifted her easily and slid inside her tight heat. Seconds before he came, he nuzzled into her neck, breathing in her scent.

"You're pretty fucking perfect yourself," he whispered. Clary giggled and tightened her arms around his neck, biting down softly on the shell of his ear.

"I know."

 _So? What did you guys think?_

 _Let me know in a review, they only take a few seconds xx_


	4. D : Drive

_Hey, guys :) Next chapter. A question I got asked that I actually meant to address a while earlier, is I was asked who I imagine as the characters when I'm writing. Well, to me, Lily and Jamie will always be Clary and Jace. I think they did a spectacular job. And to be totally honest, the TV actors really frustrate me. Not saying they're not good actors or anything, I'm sure they're just doing what the directors tell them to, but they drive me kind of nuts. I find Clary super whiny and Jace unbearably broody. For pretty much everyone else as well, I imagine the movie actors. The only ones I see from the TV show (other than people who obviously weren't featured in the movie) is Matthew Daddario as Alec and Emeraude Toubia as Isabelle._

 _A little nervous about this, because I love Halsey so much and I'm a bit worried I can't do her song justice! Anyway, here we go..._

 **D : Drive - _Halsey_  
Requested by **_**Deadmenscurlyshoes**_

 _It's so simple but we can't stay  
_ _Over-analyze again  
_ _Would it really kill you if we kissed?_

 _All we do is drive  
_ _All we do is think about the feelings that we hide  
_ _All we do is sit in silence waiting for a sign  
_ _Sick and full of pride  
_ _All we do is drive_

 _And California never felt like home to me  
_ _And California never felt like home  
_ _And California never felt like home to me  
_ _Until I had you on the open road and I was singing_

When Clarissa Morgenstern was sixteen, her father got a job in California. The marriage between Valentine and Jocelyn Morgenstern had been rocky for a while, and apparently this was going to be their chance to start over, and give their marriage another shot. Clary had begged and pleaded to stay in the city that she had grown up in. New York was her whole life; her friends, her school, even her part time job—but Valentine had put his foot down, saying that they were leaving and that was final. Her older brother, Jonathon Morgenstern, was at Columbia University on a partial scholarship, and he lived near campus, so he wasn't coming with them, which was just another reason that Clary didn't want to leave.

But two months after he broke the news, they were living in California, and she was miserable.

And it wasn't just her.

Jocelyn had tried to show outward support for her husband, but it was clear that she was missing New York as well. Even though California was beautiful, and less busy, and sunny, and everyone always seemed to be smiling and tanned, it just didn't feel like home.

Things just got worse between Valentine and Jocelyn, and now Clary didn't have the roof of their apartment building to escape to with her best friend, Simon Lewis. All she had now was the backyard, but she could still hear them yelling and things banging around inside.

She hated her school.

She hated her teachers.

She hated the other students.

She just hated everything.

The only thing that she didn't hate was the boy next door.

Well, at least, she didn't hate him yet. He could still possibly do or say something that might rub her the wrong way, but so far, it seemed that maybe they had a bit in common.

He was older than her, she knew that because he was in a higher grade than her at school. He hung out with a lot of people, and a lot of them were clearly popular, but he never really seemed interested in what was going on around him. He wore a leather jacket all the time, and he had ear buds in his ears permanently, hidden under his shaggy golden hair, and his golden eyes were always moving around his surroundings. And more often than not...He had bruises.

The first time they properly saw each other, or at least, at the same time, was six months after she moved in. She was sitting on the swinging chair in the back yard, holding one of the chains connecting the chair to the tree, rocking it with one hand while the other was clenched in her lap. Her parents were going at it again, and it was almost funny, the way it sounded as though they were trying to out shout the couple next door. The golden haired boy came storming out the back door, and for a moment, the shouting from inside the neighboring house got louder, and then it was muffled as the door shut. He saw her sitting there, and his walking slowed for a split second. He frowned when he heard the shouting in her own home, and Clary frowned back at him when she saw a bright red mark under his eye.

He paused and tipped his head in a nod at her, almost a sympathetic one, as though they were kindred spirits, and then he was stalking toward his car in the driveway. He got inside, turning on the engine, and then went roaring down the road.

At least he could escape, even if it was just for a little bit.

Clary wished she could go with him.

The next day at school, the red mark around his eye had turned into a bruise, and it was an ugly blue and purple for the next few days. It was the first time that Clary had actually appreciated the fights between her parents. At least they never turned physical. Sure, they were verbally vicious with their words, and sometimes Valentine would turn them on her, but they had never used their fists.

A few weeks later, they saw each other again. Over the screaming and the shouting of their parents, they looked at each other from over the meter high fence that separated their properties. He looked like he was going to start walking toward his car without anything further, but then he held up his keys at her, like a question. Clary lifted an eyebrow in surprise, her eyes widening, but then, probably against her better judgement, she nodded her head and walked alongside him on her side of the fence, until she got to the end and rounded onto his driveway. She let him open the passenger side door without a sound and slid inside.

The car was surprisingly tidy for a male, although she didn't really have much to compare it to. No one really had their own car in New York, and especially none of the guys she had dated or any of her friends. It was all cabs or buses or the subway. They didn't talk as he turned the car on, waited for her to put on her seat belt, and then reversed out of the driveway.

And then they drove.

It must have been for hours.

She actually fell asleep in the passenger seat, lulled asleep by the quiet music playing on the radio, and the salty breeze coming from the open window as they drove alongside the beach, and the smell of his cologne. When she woke up, they were back in his driveway, and it was dark outside. He gave her a tiny smile as she got out of the car and she wiggled her fingers in a sort of goodbye wave, before going back into her own home.

She didn't even know his name.

It became a thing.

Once or twice a week, if they were both outside, they would gravitate toward his car, get inside, and drive until their minds didn't pound quite so hard. She learnt his name; not from him telling her, but from hearing someone call it out at school. He learnt her name as well, but she wasn't too sure how. At first they didn't really talk, although there was one time after a particularly bad fight, when tears were dripping down her face, and he reached across the center console and squeezed her thigh ever so slightly.

After that, they seemed to open up a little.

Sometimes she would sing along to the music on the radio—he seemed to like that, the way he gave her these soft looks out of the corner of his eyes.

He asked her about New York, she asked him about soccer.

She told him about Jonathon, he told her about his best friend, Alec Lightwood.

Most of the time, though, they traveled in silence, other than the music. And for some reason, she felt that that was when she understood him the most. Because they both just needed someone, someone who knew what they were going through without needing to try and put their feelings into words. They didn't necessarily want someone to talk to, just someone to _be there_.

They exchanged phone numbers at some point, maybe a month after all of their interaction started, and then their drives became more frequent, because even then even if one of them were okay, and they weren't trying to hide outside, they would come if the other needed them.

And then they would drive.

Clary had no idea what they were, but she knew that a couple of months after this had all started, they began holding hands, their fingers only unlacing when he needed to shift gear. The weight and warmth of his hand was comforting, and it made her feel relaxed, and a lot of the time, she fell asleep. She wasn't too sure what he told his friends about her, but they had started hanging out at school now, and his friends gave her these smiles in the hallways, as though they knew who she was. She hadn't really made any other friends, and he just one day started sitting at her lunch table.

And he held her hand when he walked her to class after.

There was this tension between them. This thing that they both knew was there, but they didn't want to push, just in case it changed things. If he tried to kiss her, Clary would kiss him back, and he knew that same about her, but neither of them made the first move. Because their lives were already mixed up enough, and full of uncertainty and worry; with their parents, with themselves, with their future—and they didn't want to risk the good thing that they had.

But when they were in his car...When they were racing along the highway next to the ocean, the waves crashing in on the surf...The windows wound all the way down so that Clary's hair was getting knotted beyond belief as it tangled around her face...The music turned all the way up so that even when she sung at the top of her lungs, she still couldn't properly be heard over the bass and the wind roaring in their ears...And there was this look in his eyes that promised that one day; one day they would just keep driving, just the two of them...And that was enough.

And it was the only time she felt like she was home.

 _Now! My music obsessions since my last update! Actually, heaps of old songs to be honest that have resurfaced on my iTunes. There's_ Thinking It Over _by Dana Glover, seriously this song makes my heart ache like every time I hear it. I think I obsessively listened to it when I was a teenager when I went through a break up, melodramatic child that I was. Then there's_ Pony _by Ginuwine. LOL. Don't know what's got me so into that one all of a sudden. And the third one is_ Bring Me Back To Life _by Extreme Music. Seriously, the_ Shadowhunters _show has a pretty great soundtrack, I think I've fallen in love with every song I've discovered through there!_

 _Oh gosh,_ aaaaaaaand _there's this cover of a Jesse McCartney song,_ Beautiful Soul, _by SoMo. I watched a Stydia fan video to the song, and I'm now just completely in love._

 _Oooooh, and in the post the other day, I got my Stilinski 24 hoodie. Can you tell I'm obsessed with_ Teen Wolf _just a little bit? Yes? No? Maybe? LOL._

 _As usual, please feed my obsession with songs and reviews :) It'd make me very happy, and I'll send you a preview xxx_


	5. E : Elastic Heart

_Couple of things have happened since my last update. First thing is sad, one of my kitties died :( Not too sure how, appears as though he ate something poisonous in our neighbours yard. Me and my hubby and my second kitty are very upset. Second thing is happier, thank God; it's my birthday tomorrow! I'm getting old._

 _Also as a side note, I've posted a couple of pilot chapters for a few Clace stories that I'll be starting. They don't have a set updating schedule yet, but they will be expanded on and turned into full multi-chapter stories, so go check them out and let me know what you think :)_

 _This one was inspired by_ Chicago PD, _hope you enjoy._

 **E : _Elastic Heart -_ Sia  
** **Requested by _JacePlaysBass_**

 _And I will stay up through the night  
_ _And let's be clear, won't close my eyes  
_ _And I know that I can survive  
_ _I'll walk through fire to save my life  
_ _And I want it, I want my life so bad  
_ _I'm doing everything I can  
_ _Then another one bites the dust  
_ _It's hard to lose a chosen one  
_ _You did not break me  
_ _(You did not break me, no)  
_ _I'm still fighting for peace_

 _Well, I've got thick skin and an elastic heart  
_ _But your blade—it might be too sharp  
_ _I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard  
_ _Yeah, I may snap and I move fast  
_ _But you won't see me fall apart  
_ _'Cause I've got an elastic heart_

Jace Wayland took in a deep breath as he squinted over at the blonde next to him in the bed, a sharp twinge in his temple. He was still feeling pretty hungover from the night before—in fact, he might still be a little bit drunk—and that was impairing his memory of things that he should really probably remember.

Such as, the name of the blonde in the bed next to him.

Or where he was.

"Morning," said a voice from the doorway and Jace whipped his head in that direction, instantly regretting it when another stab of pain vibrated through his skull and made him groan and close his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a brunette standing there, holding out of a mug of coffee. She was only wearing a pair of underwear that left little to the imagination and there were hickeys on her neck and scratches on her arms. Jace frowned a little as he took the coffee from her and gingerly sat up. "Claire tends to sleep until after one, but I have work in half an hour, so if you need a ride or whatever to your apartment or something I can take you." Jace took a sip of coffee as her words sunk in and then his eyebrows shot up.

"Shit, what's the time?!" He asked, looking around for a clock.

"Almost nine," the brunette said.

"Fuck!" Jace took another gulp of the scalding coffee and then put it down on the nightstand, ignoring how it splashed over his hands. "Do you know where my clothes are?" He asked her as he stood up and looked around, noting that he was completely naked, much like the blonde who was still in bed.

"We started in the lounge," the brunette told him with a smirk. Jace didn't have time to appreciate the fact that he had scored two chicks last night, both of who were a twelve on a scale of one to ten, because he was late.

He was ridiculously late.

He found his clothes, crinkling up his nose at the smell of cigarettes and bourbon but shrugging it off, because he had a change of clothes at work, and right now the priority was just getting there. There was a moment of panic as he patted the inside pocket of his leather jacket and then he found what he was looking for and let out a sigh of relief. If he was late _and_ needed to report that he had misplaced his badge, Hodge Starkweather would have his head.

"Can you drop me at the station on Quay Street?" Jace asked the brunette, who was now wearing a pair of leggings and hooking on a bra.

"The station?" She looked confused and then her eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, you're a cop?"

"Detective," he corrected her as he buttoned up his shirt, ignoring the flare of interest on her face. He really wasn't interested in fulfilling some sort of police and handcuffs kind of fantasy for her, so he finished dressing and looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "I'm ready to go when you are," he told her pointedly, watching as she went through the washing basket on the couch, finding a shirt and pulling it on. The brunette nodded and grabbed her keys, and then they were heading out of the apartment.

The drive to the station was filled with the brunette's mindless chatter, which Jace easily spaced out of as he stared out the window. The city was alive with people, and rightfully so, given it was nine in the morning. There were kids in uniform, dawdling and clearly late for school. There were groups of mums doing their power walks with their babies in their strollers. There were angry people stuck in traffic, tooting their horns and pulling the fingers at each other.

It was all so normal.

Painfully normal.

And what was even worse, was the throbbing behind his eyes and the feeling of dull dissatisfaction in the pit of his stomach was normal as well.

Jace had always loved woman. Shit, ever since he was in high school. And the feeling had always been mutual. He had had a couple of girlfriends in high school, and sometimes they had been good, but most of the time, he just preferred the excitement and the chase of a one night stand or a fling. That had gotten easier as he had gotten older, and woman were no longer teenagers who wanted to wear his letterman jacket or be his prom date. They were also a lot more experienced than his one night stands filled with sloppy blowjobs and thinking that doggy style was a kinky position. He dated a few, but just like high school, they had never really stuck, and after a few weeks—or the occasional one that lasted a few months—it was over, and he was back to his old ways.

And that was totally fine, because he was twenty five years old—he had a great career, great friends, great family. He didn't need a girlfriend. He didn't need to settle down. He could play the field, he could have fun, fuck—he could get plastered and go home with two bisexual hotties and then not remember what had happened and where he was in the city or what their names were.

Until her.

She was five foot nothing of fiery red hair and sarcasm and bad-assery that had made him think that she would be absolutely perfect for a one night stand. Hell, maybe even more, given they were working together. They got the stresses of the job, both understood the shitty hours that they had to pull—he had never slept with anyone that he had worked with before. He knew that there was risks involved, but part of him had thought that both of them could work through it.

They had fallen together after a case that took nearly two months. They had been partnered for the first time just before the case had started, Starkweather thought that they would make a good match. And they had. Their attitudes were similar, and they learnt one anothers patterns quickly. After it had happened the first time, she had said that was the one and only time that it was going to happen.

That had been pretty far from the truth.

It kept happening.

For eight months.

Until it wasn't just sleeping together; it was staying up late with beers and watching TV shows, it was going to fancy restaurants all dressed up, it was going out to a basketball game and introducing her to his cousin and best friend, Alec Lightwood. The shift had happened gradually, the lines easily blurred between a close working partnership, and casual lovers, and an actual relationship.

It had all turned to shit during a shoot out. There had been a domestic violence call out, and while that wasn't usually something a pair of detectives would go out too, the address that the call out was too was someone that they had been keeping their eye on for a while. So Starkweather had sent the pair of them over there, and it had resulted in a foot pursuit. Which had lead to them in an abandoned warehouse, and it had only taken one wrong move and the collapse of a rotted through plank in the ground, and the tables had turned on them. She was grabbed by the man they were chasing. She lost her gun and their perp had his arm around her neck and a gun pointed at her head.

And Jace hadn't been able to take the shot.

He should have.

He had made that shot about twenty times before.

But he just couldn't pull the trigger.

His hesitation could have cost them their case, or worse, her life.

She had told him that it was over, and that it should never has escalated in the first place. If she had been any of the other people in their squad, he would have taken the shot, but because it was her, because of their relationship, he had hesitated. He could see the pain in her own eyes, one that matched his, but she was determined in what she said.

Jace understood, but that hadn't meant he liked it.

He thought that he could deal with it. He had been through a dozen break ups before. But he just couldn't get over her. Months went past, and he had seen her out with other guys, laughing and tossing her hair and moving on as if it was so easy, and he just couldn't get her out of his head. And seeing her every day at work, that hadn't helped.

A different woman every night.

A different bar every night.

The same alcohol every night.

Ms Brunette was still yabbering away when they reached the station, and it sounded as though she was trying to tell him what her phone number was and saying that they should meet up again. Jace took in a deep breath through his nose, leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek before getting out of the car and walking silently toward the station. He was greeted by the desk sergeant, and then a couple of officers as he walked up to their office on the second floor. He knew that he looked like shit, tired and hungover and washed up, and he knew he reeked, day old deodorant, bourbon and cigarettes. He would shower and use the spare change of clothes once he apologized to Starkweather for being late, but it's not as though his squad wasn't used to this appearance.

He had a reputation as being the partier in the squad, and the only reason he got away with it was because he was so good at his job. Admittedly, it had only gotten worse since the break up, but it's not as though the rest of the squad knew what he was going through. And it's not as though they knew how much more he was drinking, how much more he was smoking, how many more girls there were...He was very good at hiding things.

Jace swallowed hard, feeling his head throb, but this time it had nothing to do with the headache.

"Jace, hurry the fuck up!" Clarissa Fray called from where she was strapping her gun into it's holster. "We need to get out to the crime scene!" She was talking to him exactly the same way she talked to everyone else, as though she saw him the exact same way that she saw Starkweather, and Magnus Bane, and Simon Lewis, and Lydia Branwell.

Jace narrowed his eyes for a split second before forcing a smile.

"Just let me change," he told her. "And then I'm all yours!"

There was no way he was going to admit to anyone that the fact he was feeling dead and empty inside was because of Clary, especially to her.

 _Instead of songs, this time I want to rave about a couple of things I've watched on Netflix. Obviously, there's_ Jessica Jones _. Okay, I know, I know, I'm a total Marvel freak, but it's amazing! I've had a few friends who aren't into Marvel at all who watched and they were in love. The second is a documentary,_ Hot Girls Wanted. _It's kinda...Sad and shit, but it's really good. About girls who get into amateur porn and don't really know what they're getting themselves into. And then_ Sense8. _Ohmygod._ Sense8. _It is absolutely incredible. I wasn't into it at first, but I stuck with it, and we binged on the whole season in the weekend. It was unlike anything else I've watched, and I definitely recommend._

 _Oh yeah!_ AND I SAW _Captain America: CIVIL WAR_ LAST WEEKEND! _Holy shit. Just as good as I had hoped. Couple of things I was a little iffy on but *sighs dreamily* it was very good. Sebastian Stan and Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner all in one movie makes me very happy :) So if anyone is a Marvel fan and wants to fangirl, don't hold back! Especially if you want to fangirl about Stucky or Sebastian Stan talking in Russian or Wanda, who I absolutely fell in love with in this movie._

 _Let me know what you think xx_


	6. F : Fall

_First of all, I just wanted to say I'm sorry that it took so long to get back to all of your reviews after my last update. There was some weird syncing issue with the reviews and I wasn't able to reply to them normally, so it took a while to go through and reply to you all :( I'm sorry! Secondly, there are still two letters left for requests, they are Q and Z. There have been a couple of suggestions, except they haven't been songs that I've been able to properly connect to, so I'm still looking. If you've got anything for those two, let me know!_

 _Alright, on with the chapter :)_

 **F : _Fall -_ Justin Bieber  
Requested by _BrunetteAngel12_**

 _Well, let me tell you a story_  
 _About a girl and a boy_  
 _He fell in love with his best friend_  
 _When she's around, he feels nothing but joy_  
 _But she was already broken, and it made her blind_  
 _But she could never believe that love would ever treat her right_

 _Did you know that I loved you or were you not aware?_  
 _You're the smile on my face_  
 _And ain't going nowhere_  
 _I'm here to make you happy, I'm here to see you smile_  
 _I've been wanting to tell you this for a long while_

 _What's gonna make you fall in love?_  
 _I know you got your wall wrapped all the way around your heart_  
 _Don't have to be scared at all, oh, my love_  
 _But you can't fly unless you let yourself_  
 _You can't fly unless you let yourself fall_

Jace Wayland had a feeling that he had always been in love with Clarissa Morgenstern. The girl next door with the bright red hair and these exquisite green eyes and the most intriguing personality he had ever come across.

When they were three, they used to play together naked in the blow up pool in his backyard.

When they were five, they held hands on the first day to school.

When they were nine, her father walked out, and Clary had stayed with him for nearly two weeks.

When they were thirteen, when her brother left to go to College without looking back over his shoulder once, she had cried on his shoulder.

They were best friends.

And they always said that nothing was going to change that.

He loved it when he made her smile, or even better—made her laugh. It was easy when they were younger, he would make faces, or attempt to juggle, or painting her pictures. It got harder as they got older, but he still managed. He found songs that she liked, or videos and pictures, or got her to sneak out her window so they could break into the school pool in the middle of a hot Summers night.

There was one night that always stuck in his head, when they were fourteen, and they were going to their first boy-girl dance. It wasn't their first school dance, but it was the first time they had to probably dress up and their teachers had been giving them lessons on how to dance at school. Jace picked up on it quite quickly, but Clary had always been a bit clumsy. Jace found it adorable, but she had told him stubbornly there was no way she was going to the dance without learning the steps properly because she wasn't going to look like an idiot in front of their whole year group at school.

So the night before the dance, he had told her to put on the tiny pair of high heels that her mum had brought for her to wear, and then they had practiced dancing on the wooden floors of the kitchen at his place. They had played music that was on Celine Wayland's iTunes account, and he had taught her the steps, and then once she had got it, they improvised, and he twirled her around, her little heels tapping away on the floor, and her hair splaying out around them. She had laughed when he dipped her down, and there had been a split moment when the tips of their noses had touched and he thought that he was going to get his first kiss, but then his dad had come into the room and broken the moment.

Clary had it harder than Jace. Even though they were next door neighbors, just the comparison between their two houses showed the difference. While his parents weren't rich, they were well off. They had a two storied home and Celine had a well manicured lawn and gorgeous gardens, and they owned three cars, one for both parents and then on his sixteenth birthday, Jace got a Mercedes. On the other hand, the Morgenstern home—or the Fray home, now that the parents were split up—was a simple one storied home with weeds in the overgrown garden and a beat up Toyota in the back yard.

That was just from the outside.

On the inside, they were different as well. Or at least, they had _become_ different.

After her father and Jonathon Morgenstern had left, Clary became more closed off. She didn't really let anyone in, it even became difficult for Jace and Jocelyn Fray to get through to her. But he knew that she still needed him, because there were a couple of times, when Jace and Clary were laying on the trampoline in his backyard, staring up at the sky, their fingers overlapping between their bodies, and Clary had asked him not to leave her.

Never to leave her, like her father and brother.

That he was her best friend and she didn't know what she would be able to do if she left him.

Jace promised her, every single time that he wouldn't.

But it wasn't just because she was his best friend.

It was because he was head over heels in love with her, and he couldn't imagine going anywhere without her.

Even as teenagers, when things got a little bit more complicated between them, and they branched out into different social circles at school, the way he felt about her never changed. He tried to tell himself that it did go away, when Clary started dating a quarterback named Sebastian Verlac and he dated a couple of girls in his classes. But when he was completely honest with himself, she was the first thing that was on his mind when he woke up, and the last face that danced behind his eyelids before he went to sleep.

Clary and Sebastian dated for almost six months, which felt like an eternity when you were sixteen. But they inevitably broke up, when she walked in on him kissing Kaelie Whitewillow, a cheerleader who was all beauty and no brains.

Jace couldn't help himself.

As soon as she was single again, he stopped seeing the girl from the school on the other side of town, and was completely focused on Clary again.

He couldn't help it.

She didn't date anyone again, the rest of the way through high school. Once upon a time, they had told each other everything, but there was some things that Clary didn't open up about. He didn't know how far she went with Sebastian, and he didn't know how far she went with the boys that she kissed at parties. All he knew, was that the only time she got the soft look in her eyes, was when she was looking at him, or at her mother.

And maybe that was enough for him.

Maybe as they got older, and his feelings truly did fade, then he would be happy just as her friend. He would find some nice girl, never another red head with green eyes, but a pretty blonde or brunette with blue or dark eyes, and he would be happy.

But he really wasn't sure.

The night before their exams started, they were lying on the trampoline in his back yard. They were eighteen now, and graduation was getting closer and closer. They had both applied for colleges, almost all of them the same, and they hadn't talked about the possibility of getting accepted into different places. It had been a long time since they had just laid like this, Jace in a pair of jeans and a wife beater, Clary in a short pair of pyjama shorts and one of Jace's old shirts. He remembered when they did this all the time, and when she would link her fingers through his and she would ask him for his promise.

"Jace," Clary breathed.

"Mm?" Jace turned his head to face her, and blinked in surprise when he saw that she was already looking at him. She chewed down on her lower lip, her green eyes wide and uncertain, and he couldn't help but search for her hand and lace their fingers together, like they had when they were younger. She turned onto her side, one of her legs coming over to rest on his.

"You remember what I used to ask you?" She questioned and he didn't hesitate before nodding. "Did you mean it?"

"I meant it then, and I mean it now," Jace told her quietly, tightening his grip on her hand. "I'm never going to leave you." Clary hesitated, and then suddenly she was leaning forward and she kissed him ever so softly on the mouth, just a simple, sweet brushing of lips.

"And I'm never going to leave you either," she replied. "I promise." She laid her head down on his shoulder, and as Jace turned his head back to look up at the night sky, a ridiculously large smile spread across his face.

 _Okay, so I'm going to recommend a couple of songs again! Mainly because I love so many songs that I just have to share them, and also because I absolutely love, love, LOVE you guys giving me songs back. So keep suggesting them, I have a massive list on my computer of your songs and I make my way through all of them :) Anyway, the songs this time;_ Still Here _and_ Devil Within _by Digital Daggers. Fucking amazing, a little bit haunting—both of them. And then there's_ Couple of Kids _by Maggie Lindemann is sweet and has this underlying sort of sad tone to it? But it's gorgeous and I'm addicted. And then the last one is_ Peach Arizona _by drumaq. I've listen to this at least twice every time I get into my car. It's really chilled out and I'm just...God, I'm just in love._

 _Let me know what you guys think!_

 _I absolutely love hearing what you all think xx_


	7. G : Girl Next Door

_Next chapter! Okay, I just wanted to let you know that I'm aware the last one was a 'next door neighbor' AU, but they are pretty different stories themselves. I wrote the last one before I got the request for this one, which is why they were similar AU's. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it!_

 _Please make sure you're taking a minute to leave a comment, just a few words, at the end. There's lots of you guys reading and following, and it means a lot for you to take a moment to say something :)_

 **G : _Girl Next Door -_ Emblem3  
Requested by _Soccerpup17_**

 _All day got me going crazy_  
 _Can't shake that feeling that she gave me_  
 _All day got me goin' crazy, got me goin' crazy_

 _There's something 'bout the girl next door_  
 _Something that I can't ignore_  
 _And every time I look at her_  
 _I imagine walking through her door_

 _There's something 'bout the girl next door_  
 _Something that I can't ignore_  
 _She got me like 'Ooh'_  
 _She got me like 'Ooh'_

Jace Wayland growled under his breath as he swiped his hand across his face, blood smearing his palm. He fumbled in his pockets for his keys, pulling them out and then swatting his hair out of his eyes. His golden hair was matted with sweat and a little blood and it was sticking to his forehead and getting in the way of his vision. He finally managed to get his key and shoved it into the lock and then he paused because the door next to his opened and his red headed neighbor stepped out, looking like perfection as usual in a skin tight black dress that left very little to the imagination and some ridiculously high heels that did wonders for her already incredible ass. She glanced his way, and then did a double take when she saw his face.

"Holy shit, Wayland! What the fuck did you do to your face?" Clarissa Fray cried.

"Oh, you don't like it this way?" Jace teased lightly, trying to keep his tone light even though the smile he tried to give her made his lips tighten and the split down the middle stung. She rolled her eyes and locked up her apartment, putting her keys into the handbag slung over her shoulder and then coming over to him.

"Who did you piss off this time?" She snatched his keys off him and unlocked his apartment, walking inside and flicking on the light as if she owned the place. She put down her bag and then strode straight down the short hallway toward his bathroom. Jace was pretty certain that she had only been into his place once or twice, but then again, all the apartments in this building were laid out pretty much the same. She came back a few seconds later with his first aid kit.

"You don't have to do this," Jace began as she walked back toward him. "It's just a couple of scrapes and bruises."

"Whatever, tough guy," Clary just rolled her eyes at him and then motioned for him to sit down at one of the kitchen seats. She pulled out some antiseptic and tipped it onto a cotton ball and then dabbed at his lip. Jace hissed and Clary put two fingers under his chin and held it up firmly. "Keep still," she said to him.

Jace complied.

Because he had been falling for this girl ever since she had moved in next to him twelve months ago.

And if she told him to 'keep still' then that's exactly what he'd do for her.

"You seem to know what you're doing," Jace observed after she had cleaned away at his face dutifully for several minutes, and Jace had tried not to stare at her mouth too hard. She began to use butterfly plasters to close up the long cut across his forehead.

"My brother used to get into fights all the time when we were younger," Clary shrugged as she finished off and then scanned his face, a touch of concern in her eyes. She carded her fingers through his shaggy fringe and Jace had to fight not to close his eyes at the soft touch and tip his head into her palm. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jace assured her, taking in a deep breath through his nose.

"What happened?" Clary asked as she picked up the rubbish and scrunched it up in her hands. "You don't look like the kind of guy who lets people mess up his pretty face on a regular occasion."

"Aw, you think my face is pretty?" Jace teased her, getting up off the seat and taking the rubbish from her, walking into the kitchen and dumping it into the bin in the corner.

"I think _you_ think your face is pretty," Clary raised her eyebrow at him and Jace couldn't help but let out a laugh. "So? What happened?" She repeated.

"I'm a bouncer, uh, at _Pandemonium_? It's a club in town—"

"I know where you work," Clary interjected and Jace couldn't help his eyebrows lift at that, maybe feeling just a little more happier about that than he should.

"Yeah, well, there were a couple of guys, they got rowdy with a few of the girls behind the bar. You know, normal shit, like hitting on them, but then they just wouldn't take no for an answer. So me and one of the other guys, my buddy Alec, had to step in," Jace sighed. "It got a little bit more physical than it usually does. After they left, my boss sent us home early coz we kinda had to..." he waved his hand toward his face. "Clean up." Clary shook her head slightly.

"Well, I hope you got a couple of good punches in," she noted.

"Oh don't worry, I did," Jace grinned and he finally got a smile from Clary.

"Okay, well if you're good here, I'm heading off now. I'm meeting a couple of friends in town, hence the get up," she waved a hand up and down her body and Jace gave her another appreciative look. Clary caught the heated gaze and she smirked at him. "I'll see you around, neighbor," she wiggled her fingers at him before flouncing out the door, leaving the smell of her perfume and faint scent of lemon chewing gum behind in the apartment.

"Shit," Jace sighed, biting his lip.

Clary had moved in a year ago, and while Jace usually just ignored the other tenants, when he saw her in the elevator in a pair of sweatpants and a loose singlet with _Halsey_ written across the front, there was just something that said he needed to get to know her. There wasn't anything particularly special about her, she was nowhere close to being the most attractive girl he had ever seen or hooked up with, but she had these insane green eyes that he couldn't stop staring at, and she just smelt so good.

Even now, a year later, Jace still wasn't too sure what it was about her that had pulled him in.

But he most definitely had a thing for the girl next door.

Which sounded stupid and completely cliched, and a guy in his mid-twenties really shouldn't be in such a cheesy situation, but he couldn't help it.

He was stuck.

He didn't even know all that much about her!

He knew she had a brother, Jon, and a mum who looked a lot like her, Jocelyn, because he had met them a couple of times.

He knew her best friend and definitely not boyfriend was this nerd in thick-rimmed glasses, Simon Lewis, because after seeing them together a bunch of times, he finally plucked up the courage to not-so-casually ask if they were seeing each other.

He knew that she loved Halestorm, and Banks, and unfortunately Justin Bieber, because she played them all really loudly when she was cleaning her apartment on a Sunday afternoon.

He knew she loved to paint, and that she was addicted to coffee, and that she worked at a book store with her friend Maia Roberts, and that she went for walks in the evening if the weather was good, and that she had just gotten a new tattoo on her wrist, and that her favorite color was blue.

He also knew that if he went on about her for much longer, his best friends, Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, were going to paint a sign and hang it out front of their apartment building, announcing he had a crush on her.

Isabelle had actually threatened that a couple of times.

But the thing was, they weren't really... _Friends_. Like, maybe they were friends at a stretch, but more just like friendly acquaintances. They saw each other most days, usually on their way to or from work, and they would smile and make small talk on the elevator ride down. Things had escalated a little when they realized they went to the same coffee shop, and sometimes they would dawdle and talk a little longer than they usually would.

Jace took a risk and added her on Facebook, and a few hours later, he got a notification that said she had accepted. He wasn't going to admit to anyone _ever_ that he stalked her right back to 2009 when she had first gotten a Facebook, but he had, and he hadn't regretted anything except seeing a phase that she was going through in 2010 where there were a ton of photos of her with her boyfriend at the time, the pair of them almost always making out.

At Christmas last year, she had been out of town, probably visiting her family, but late that evening, after he had gotten home from Alec and his boyfriend, Magnus Banes, he had checked his Facebook, and she had sent him a picture, blowing a kiss and wishing him a Merry Christmas.

Yeah, Jace was kind of head over heels for her.

And just like always, when he had the chance to say something, he had just let her walk away.

Jace sighed as he rubbed a hand over his face without thinking, and then cringed as it brushed over one of the scrapes on his cheek. He went over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer, snapping off the lid and then taking a careful sip, making sure to take a sip from the corner of his mouth that wasn't split, and then frowned when he heard a knock at the door. He looked up at the time, the clock above his fridge saying it was just after eleven, and he walked slowly toward the door, opening it up.

"Hi?" Jace raised an eyebrow in surprise as he saw Clary standing there.

"Hi," she replied, chewing down on her bottom lip and looking a little nervous.

"Is everything okay?" He asked her after a few beats past and she was still silent.

"Yeah, I was..." she sort of squinted at him before shrugging. "Yeah, I was thinking that I could keep you company? I'm not actually to big on the whole clubbing thing, I'm more into watching re-runs of _Fresh Prince of Bel-Air_ on Netflix." Jace blinked stupidly at her for a moment and then realized what she was proposing. A grin spread across his face, and he got an adorable smile in return from the redhead.

"Sounds perfect," Jace stepped to the side and let her back into his apartment.

 _Okay, okay, sooooo the songs this time aaaare ;_ Reforget _and_ The Other _, by Lauv. I found these about two weeks ago and I've just been listening to them non-stop ever since. I'm completely head over fucking heels for them. Then there's_ Soldier _by Samantha Jade,_ Don't Let Me Down _by Chainsmokers and_ Lover, Fighter _by SVRCINA. Those last three have all been on repeat every time I get in my car, completely in love with them._

 _Let me know what songs you guys are addicted to at the moment! Please, please, please! I love your suggestions._

 _Another thing; I find it really, really, really hard to find fics that I enjoy and keep my attention. I haven't actually read any Clace, other than stories I've been previously following, in a few months, I've become totally obsessed with the_ Teen Wolf _fandom and, of course,_ Captain America _. But I came across one called_ Picking a God _by IosoIUno and it's ah-mah-zing. Check it out. Also if you guys have any good story recommendations, let me know._

 _Aaaaand, please let me know what you guys thought of the chapter :) Your reviews make me ridiculously happy and they're what keep me writing. And for every signed in review I'll send out a preview xx_


	8. H : Hurricane

_Hey guys! There's a couple of things that I need to say and they're kinda serious/sad/angry/whatever so I thought I'd get them over with at the beginning, and then my authors note at the end would be a happy one :) So if you guys wanted to skip forward, totally understandable._

 _The first thing; there's been some real negative reviews going around. Everyone gets them, it's going to happen. It totally sucks, but it's unavoidable. But some people have been going out of their way to leave insanely long, detailed descriptions as to what they hate about stories and, come on, that's just unnecessary. I try to just delete flames and not think about them, they suck and sometimes I get a little pissed off and discouraged, but I try to ignore them. Sometimes it really gets to writers though, and they get mental blocks and choose to stop writing. Can we please just be nice? Constructive criticism—absolutely, but there's a difference. Remember we write for free, and for fun! Come on, everyone!_

 _The second thing; I try not to mention world events on here or even on my social media account for several reasons. But I did want to say I was so upset when I heard about Christina Grimmie dying! I have listened to her on YouTube for years, and I was actually listening to her the morning that I found out she was shot. It's so horrible. I think what freaks me out is I've just listened to her for so long, and she's the same age as me, and it just so scary...It's just not okay :(_

 **H : _Hurricane -_ Halsey**

 **Requested by _Jling_**

 _I went down to a place in Brooklyn_  
 _Where you tripped on LSD_  
 _And I found myself reminded_  
 _To keep you far away from me_

 _And there's a storm you're starting now_  
 _And there's a storm you're starting now_  
 _And there's a storm you're starting_

 _I'm a wanderess_  
 _I'm a one night stand_  
 _Don't belong to no city_  
 _Don't belong to no man_  
 _I'm the violence in the pouring rain_  
 _I'm a hurricane_  
 _Ha ah ah ha ah ah ah_  
 _I'm a hurricane_  
 _Ha ah ah ha ah ah ah_  
 _I'm a hurricane_

It was only just past six in the morning, but it was still warm enough that Clarissa Fray could sit on the beach in just a bikini top and a pair of cut off shorts. She had left the hostel she was staying in at five, walking down the streets of Los Angeles with her backpack over her shoulders. It wasn't a very big backpack, although maybe it looked big on her petite figure, but it managed to hold all of her earthly possessions. She really didn't have all that much—she didn't _need_ all that much.

Right now, all she needed was the sunrise and the waves crashing up on the beach. She felt completely calm and relaxed, her toes digging into the sand, the blue nail polish gleaming through the grains and her fingers curling into her palms. There were early morning joggers with their dogs and a couple of surfers already out on the waves wearing wet suits.

She almost didn't want to leave this place on the flight she had booked this afternoon, but she had been here for nearly two months. That was probably the longest time she had been anywhere since New Zealand last year, where she had been for just over four months. But in her defense there, that was a whole country that she had been hopping around and exploring.

And as much as a free spirit as she was, there was something about going back to the Big Apple that drew her in.

So she was going back to New York, which was the closest thing that she would call to home.

She slept most of the flight, very used to sleeping on public transport, and woke up just as the flight attendant was announcing that they need to put their seat belts on and their trays in a upright position. There was the usual mess at the airport, relatives and loved ones all flooding around the entry gate and causing an almost standstill. Clary ducked around them, her nose scrunched up in distaste at a particularly lovey dovey couple that looked as though they were trying to eat their way into each others throats.

It was almost nine thirty, but as always, it didn't matter what time of day it was, the city was completely alive.

She loved it.

The whole place vibrated with energy, and it made her skin prickle. She hailed a cab outside, digging out pretty much the last money she had as she gave them her destination. A small but popular club called _Pandemonium_ that was run by one of the few friends that Clary had, Isabelle Lightwood. When she arrived, she waited at the maintenance door out the back, because she wasn't exactly dressed to be let into a fancy club, and sent off a text to the owner. It didn't take long for the door to be swinging open, and the dark haired brunette was spilling outside with a wide smile.

"Oh my god!" Isabelle squealed as she grabbed Clary and brought in her in for a tight hug. "I can't believe you're back here again!"

Clary had met Isabelle when she was nine. At the time, her mother and father owned this building which was now a club, except it had been more of a bar, and they hired Clary's mother and her band whenever they were in town. It was hard for Clary to make friends in the life that she lead as she was growing up, but Isabelle was one that remained strong.

Jocelyn Fray had never been one who was happy with remaining in one place. She and the three other members of her band were almost gypsy-like in the way they moved around the country, making money wherever they could, never having too much but always having enough. When Jocelyn fell pregnant with Clary, it didn't slow her down one bit. Clary loved the way she had grown up. It wasn't at all typical, but it was her life. She grew up with her mum and the three men that acted as fathers to her; Luke Garroway, Alaric Labelle and Theo Cohen. Her actual father wanted nothing to do with her, which didn't bother her when she was younger but definitely had something to do with her armor around her heart as she got older and tracked him down herself.

Even though Jocelyn was all about sharing the love and peace, something that she had always built into Clary was to keep her heart safe. Jocelyn's parents had split up when she was younger, and then they had all but forgotten about their daughter as they threw themselves into their work and to alcohol. Jocelyn had gotten pregnant when she was sixteen, and had given birth to a young boy that her parents had forced her to give up for adoption without a thought to her mental health. So as soon as she was eighteen, she had run away with her best friend from school, Luke. They had started a band, and they were actually pretty good, but they weren't interested in making money, they just wanted to play their music and travel.

For a long time that was good. For almost _ten years_ , the band worked beautifully together. Clary was born, and even though they needed to slow down a little while Jocelyn adapted, but they were a family, they all rallied around.

At least, they _were_ family. Until Theo wanted more with Jocelyn. This escalated until one night he had had too much too drink and he had come onto Clary's mother, pushing her into the dirty alley outside a club they had been performing at and forcing himself on her. Clary had never seen Theo again, and it had taken her a long time before anyone actually told her what happened, but that was just something else that reminded Clary of what Jocelyn had always told her, ' _keep her heart safe_ '. This was a man that she had trusted her whole life, that her mother had trusted her whole life. _Keep her heart safe._

Since she was fifteen, Clary had a whole lot more freedom than other girls and boys her age. Her mother trusted her and gave her space, and so there was a lot a kissing with boys and girls, a lot of experimenting with drugs and alcohol, but by the age of sixteen, she had found her niche. She was good at singing, just like her mother, and talented at art, so she was able to make a little bit of money that way as she moved around with her mother and their band.

When she was seventeen, Luke and Jocelyn had both been killed as they had been crossing a road late at night by a drunk driver. The only person that she had left in the world who really knew her was Alaric, and he never properly recovered after loosing two of the most important people in his life.

So Clary set off by herself.

She traveled the world, not just the country.

She immersed herself in cultures that she never even knew had existed, and she loved every second of it.

Her personality drew people in, made it easy for her to never be alone. And even though she didn't have someone steady in her life—no boyfriend, family or friends that were always around—she never felt alone. She was happy with her own company when it came down to it, and when she really felt like she needed to be around people who knew her, she came home.

She came back to New York, to be with Isabelle, and Simon Lewis, and Magnus Bane, and Alec Lightwood...And Jace Wayland.

Clary had gotten to know them over the years that she had returned to New York since she was a young girl, and they were the people that were always happy to have her back when she came flouncing back into their lives at intermittent intervals. Even though she loved the way some days she didn't even know what city or town she was waking up in, being back in New York was the constant that made her feel grounded, and that was something that she needed every now and then.

So here she was, letting Isabelle drag her into the club and past all the drunk and gyrating party goers, and into the back room so that they could properly catch up, and so that she could shower and change. The girls didn't have too much time to talk, although it seemed like a whole lot less than half an hour with how fast they spoke, tripping over their words, before Isabelle needed to be dragged back out to the floor to keep an eye on things. Clary got dressed into a tiny red skirt and a black singlet that showed off the tattoo's up and down her arms, over her back and down one of her legs and foot. She had about ten bracelets on one arm and a couple of necklaces, and she headed back to the club.

Clearly Isabelle had let Jace know that she was there, because it was only ten minutes later before the blonde came into the club, winding his way over to her, his customary smirk on his face.

That customary smirk that made her body melt every time she saw him, no matter how long it had been since she had seen him.

"Clarissa," he breathed as he stopped in front of her, raising an eyebrow.

"Jace," Clary's eyebrows quirked as she looked him up and down, tilting her head to the side.

It took them all of two hours to fall into his bed together.

It didn't matter how many months past since they had seen each other, they never forgot the rise and fall of each others bodies. Jace knew just where to touch her to make her shiver and quake under his fingers, and Clary knew how to twist her tongue just so to make Jace's toes curl. Jace growled as Clary rolled them over so that she was sitting on top of him, her thighs tightening on either side of his muscular torso as she began to ride him, her hands splayed against his pectoreals to keep her balance. When they finished, they were both breathing heavily and Clary let out a breathless laugh as she fell to the side of the bed next to him, her arms stretching out above her head.

"It's good to see you again, Jace," she grinned over at him, able to make out his features in the light of the moon that was streaming through the window.

"It's always good to see you too, Red," Jace replied quietly, turning his head to the side to look at her. "You want a joint?"

"Always," Clary smirked. Jace nodded and sat up, grabbing a wooden box from the bedside table. Clary rolled over, stretching her naked body as she watched him roll a joint with nimble fingers, and then grab out a lighter. "You've had that as your drug box for as long as I can remember, you really need to change it up a little."

"Hey, not all of us are big on change," Jace teased her back. "Some of us are very happy keeping things the same."

"Sounds boring," Clary shuffled across the bed so that she could kneel behind him, peppering kisses across his broad shoulders. Jace snorted as he put the joint between him lips and lit up the end. He took in a long drag, leaning his head backwards against her breasts as he held the smoke in his lungs, before letting it out into the night air. He handed it back to her and she shifted her stance so that she could inhale it easier, one of her hands still resting against his skin.

There was an undeniable sense of familiarity that came with being next to Jace, as the two of them lay next to each other, sharing the joint, their bodies pressed together from the hip down, Jace's fingers lazily drawing circles on her stomach. Their bodies felt sated and relaxed after they finished the joint, and Jace pulled Clary up on her hands and knees and braced himself behind her, pushing into her until they had both come, and then they fell asleep, their legs tangled together.

It was always the morning after that it hit Clary, and she rolled out of bed before he had a chance to wake up. He was used to her being gone by the time he woke up. She had left her backpack at the club with Izzy, knowing that she would keep it safe, but it did mean she didn't have any clothes to change into. She dug around in Jace's drawers, finding a pair of sweatpants which were a size small and clearly not his, but she ignored the insinuation as she pulled them on, rolling them over once at the waist. She grabbed one of his hoodies, the pack of cigarettes she had brought last night and one of the lighters, heading out of the apartment.

Jace had done well for himself, he had a degree in architecture, had his own apartment and was making good money. Clary personally couldn't imagine doing that herself, but she knew that he enjoyed it. She also knew that he would probably be in an actual, functioning relationship if it wasn't for her. He definitely slept with other girls, but every time Clary was back in the city, there was never anyone else.

She told herself that it wasn't her fault.

She told herself that it wasn't because of her.

If she admitted to herself that Jace wasn't interested in a relationship with someone because of his feelings for her, then that would mean something more solid, more certain.

And that wasn't something that Clary would handle.

 _Keep her heart safe._

Clary scuffed her feet against the pavement as she smoked her cigarette, tilting her head backwards as she blew the smoke into the air. It was early morning, the sun was still rising so everything was a little grey, but taxi's and town cars were shuttling along the road, tooting with their lights flashing. It was a bit cold, but she was warm in the sweatpants and hoodie, and the cigarette smoke was warming her insides. The bracelets that she still wore from last night slid back down her arms as she flicked the ash from the end of the cigarette onto the pavement.

This was better for her.

This was her life.

 _Happier authors note! I promise! A lot of people keep recommending_ War of Hearts _by Ruelle in the reviews. I do love Ruelle, and I love that song, although it's not my favourite by her. Thought that I would just recommend it though, since obviously lots of you guys love it! Other ones that I'm in love with at the moment_ Ritual _by Adam Jensen and_ Rust _by Stalgia. Also a cover of Justin Bieber's_ Sorry _by Our Last Night._

 _Let me know what you guys are listening to! I want to know!_

 _Also, there's been a few more questions about my updating schedule. It's on my profile, people. Check it out._

 _Leave a review, make my day xx_


	9. I : I Almost Do

_Soooo before you guys read this, I just want to say that I didn't write these in order. I sort of just wrote them as I got inspired, so I bounced around the requests, which is why we've resulted in a couple of similar fics in a row. I wanted to say this because I know this song is a little bit sad, like a lot of people got from the last one. I'm sorry! I hope you still enjoyed it!_

 **I : _I Almost Do_ \- Taylor Swift **  
**Requested by _DemGrayEyesDoh_**

 _Oh, we made quite a mess, babe._  
 _It's probably better off this way_  
 _And I confess, babe_  
 _In my dreams you're touching my face_  
 _And asking me if I wanna try again with you_  
 _And I almost do_

 _And I just wanna tell you_  
 _It takes everything in me not to call you_  
 _And I wish I could run to you_  
 _And I hope you know that every time I don't_  
 _I almost do_  
 _I almost do_

"Clary! Clary, come on! We're all heading down to the bonfire!" Maia Roberts was rapping her knuckles against her friends door.

"I'm coming!" Clarissa Fray shouted back as her fingers tapped across the keyboard of her laptop. She had been trying to get her paper finished before her and her sorority sisters went out tonight, but she was still a couple of hundreds words off. She saved her work and quit out of the word document, slamming the laptop shut and then freezing for a split second when she saw the photo that was pinned to her wall behind her laptop—one of her and a golden haired boy.

She really needed to take it down, it wasn't healthy looking at it every day, but she couldn't help herself. She reached out and touched the edge of the photo, tracing the outlines of the pair of them leaning in together, arms thrown around one anothers shoulders. Her hand went for her phone, scrolling through her contacts before coming to rest over one that she looked at multiple times a day.

 _Looked_ at, but never actually called.

"Clary!" Maia knocked on the door again, and this time she reached for the door handle and opened it up. "Okay, doll, get your ass moving! Or else we're going to miss our ride down there!"

"I'm coming!" Clary forced herself to smile and push all thoughts of the golden haired boy to the back of her head.

"Jordan's going to meet us there," Maia looped her arm through Clary's. "And he's bringing a friend, just for you," she shot her friend a wink. "Maybe he can get you out of this funk that you've in since the holidays!"

"Do any of us _ever_ recover after the summer holidays?" Clary pointed out, trying to brush off her friends concern.

"You make a good point," Maia smirked. "But this is our last year as students! Next year, we're off in the big, bad world and we're going to have horribly oppressive jobs and we're one step closer to becoming as boring as our parents!" Clary snorted as the two of them walked down the stairs from the second storey. "So, even though we need to study our asses of so that we can actually graduate, we definitely need to have fun and _you_ —you need to loosen up and have some fun!"

Maia was right.

Maia was always right.

But Maia didn't know exactly what had happened over the summer holiday, in the three months that she had had off University and had gone to Los Angeles to spend it with her best friend, Simon Lewis. He had moved out there with his long time girlfriend, Isabelle Lightwood, who he had been in a long distance relationship throughout all of high school. The two of them were completely different, but had somehow made it work, and as soon as he had finished school, he had moved across the country to live with her, putting off University for a few years while he tried to figure out what he wanted to do.

And while she had been in LA, she had met Isabelle's brother and her friends; Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane and then last but definitely not least, Jace Herondale. Clary had loved them all, and it seemed as though Jace took it upon himself to look after her in the three months that she was there. He was clearly a ladies man, but underneath that all, he was actually really funny and smart.

Which was why Clary had fallen for him.

It had been a whirlwind of emotions, stronger than anything Clary had felt before. It had started as just fooling around, a couple of stolen kisses, and then falling into bed together after one of Magnus' legendary parties. Then he had asked her out— _properly_ asked her out, as in they had gotten all dressed up and gone to a five star restaurant and everything. And then the last two months of her time there they had been officially dating; the holding hands, the ridiculous PDA, the cutesy photos uploaded onto Facebook.

Clary had been trying not to think about what was going to happen when the holidays ended and she needed to fly back across the country to University, when Jace had brought it up one night. They had been lying on the beach one night, a little way away from all their friends, holding hands and staring up at the skies. Jace had squeezed her hand and rolled onto his side, and said that he had been talking to his Uni adviser, and he had found out that his degree was transferable. It wasn't recommended, especially in the final year, but if he really wanted to do it, then he could.

Clary hadn't known what to say.

She had let out a loud laugh and then rolled herself on top of him, straddling his legs as she kissed him.

And that was when everything had come crashing down.

They were getting everything ready for his transfer, and applying for on-campus housing, when Kaelie Whitewillow had come back into his life. Clary had heard some things about her; she was friends with Isabelle and her and Jace had dated throughout the past year on and off, but had decide to properly call it quits about four or five months ago. They had never been serious, more just friends who exclusively fooled around, and Jace had said that in the end they were better off just as friends.

Except when Kaelie came back, it wasn't just her.

It was her and a rounded stomach.

She was six months pregnant.

There had been crying and arguing, and had resulted in a long silence between the two of them that stretched nearly a week. Jace came to see Clary the night before she caught a flight back home. He looked completely wrecked, his hair a mess around his face and his eyes red and scratchy, as though he hadn't been slept since they saw each other six days ago.

Apparently all the times had matched up, they had been together at the approximate time that Kaelie had become pregnant, and she said that there hadn't been anyone else even around that time. Jace believed her, saying that she hadn't lied to him before, and that even though he didn't feel anything for Kaelie other than friendship, he couldn't leave her.

If Jace had left behind a pregnant girl to come with her, then Clary wouldn't forgive him for it, and she wouldn't forgive herself either, for being the one to get in between a father and his child.

He had to stay.

She knew that he had to.

And now here Clary was.

Back at University, back to normalcy, and there was no way she could explain just how much those short three months had completely changed her. Maia knew that there was a guy, given the photos that had been going up on Facebook, and the one that she kept pinned to her wall amongst the ones of her with friends, but she had thought that it had just been some summer fun. Simon knew that it was more than that, and he and Isabelle had both been great, making sure to text her and Skype her every couple of days, checking in, asking if she was okay.

Actually, it was now almost every day, since photos had gone up of Kaelie, Jace and their new baby girl, Lara Herondale-Whitewillow.

Clary had tried to un-friend him, so that she didn't need to see the photos, but she just couldn't press the button. She couldn't bare the thought of not seeing his photo when she opened up the tab on her internet. She wondered if she should message him, say congratulations, but she couldn't do that.

What if he was happy?

What if the little bubble came up that said her message had been seen, but then he didn't reply?

"Babe?" Maia tugged on Clary's hand, drawing her attention back to the present. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Clary forced a smile.

"I think you really need a drink," Maia laughed as the pair of them poured into the Jeep that one of the girls from their sorority owned. They got to the bonfire, and Maia introduced Clary to her boyfriends friend, not at all subtle about the fact that she was trying to set the two of them up.

Clary got drunk.

It was expected.

And she let the blonde boy kiss her, but when he put his hand on her thigh and tried to slide it under her skirt, she had pushed him away. Maia seemed to sense her distress, even though she was pretty drunk herself, and she got Jordan to take them home. They helped Clary up to her room, making sure she was comfortable in her bed before the two of them stumbled down to her own room, pulling at one anothers clothes.

Clary blinked at the ceiling in her room. It was practically pitch black, except for the little blue light blinking from her laptop, and the moon coming through the gap in her curtains. She didn't even realize that she was crying until the breeze from the open window cooled her damp face. She swallowed hard and her hand went for her phone, which was charging on the ground beside her bed. She scrolled down her contacts, finding the one that she was looking for and pressing down on it, bringing up the number and the picture along with it.

Jace.

Smiling.

And her next to him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

The tears flowed more freely down her face, dampening the pillow underneath her head. Everything was always worse when you were drunk, she knew that. But that didn't mean the pain was any less real. She made a move to put the phone back on the floor, but filled with stupid-confidence from the alcohol, she tightened her grip and pressed down on his number, slotting it between her ear and the pillow.

...And then just before it began to ring out, she whipped it out and slammed her finger down on the end call button. She couldn't really call him. She knew that it wasn't going to get her anywhere good. It wasn't helping her get over him, all of this moping around, she needed to get on with her life.

But not yet.

She dropped her phone to the ground and started crying harder, curling in on herself and holding her stomach.

She almost called him a hundred times a day.

But she never did.

 _I'm gonna take a moment here to completely fangirl over_ Harry Potter _. Me and my hubby had a bit of a marathon over the weekend and it just brought back my complete love for it all over again. The books, the movies—_ Harry Potter _is life! Haha. My favourite line in the whole series—which totally isn't meant to be funny and shit but makes me piss myself every time it comes on because I was high as hell when I first watched the movie is '_ oh no, the invisibility booster must be faulty! _'. Once again, not funny, but holy shit, I just can't stop myself from melting own whenever I hear that line. My fave characters are kind of completely opposite personalities. Hahaha. It's Ron and Bellatrix. Completely love them both. Closely followed by Hagrid, Snape and McGonagall._

 _Tell me your favourite_ HP _character! I'm all about the fangirling :) xx_

 _Let me know what you thought of the chapter. Leave a review, they make me oh so happy :)_


	10. J : Jinx

_Something that I just wanted to address before we go into this one. A lot of people keep saying that the oneshots I'm putting up are sad ones. I'm just going off the requests that I got! I'm not choosing to do sad ones all the time! Haha. But there are happy ones in the mix as well. Anyway, going forward;_

 **J : _Jinx_ \- DNCE  
Requested by _Ads S_**

 _Superstitiously, I'm watching my words  
_ _All of my words  
_ _Now  
_ _Like a birthday wish  
_ _Don't say it out loud  
_ _Never out loud_

 _Yeah I want to tell everyone  
_ _That you are, you are my only one  
_ _Screaming at the top of my lungs  
_ _But I'm whispering, I'm whispering, I'm whispering  
_ _Cause I don't wanna jinx it_

Alec Lightwood was in love.

Most of the time when Magnus Bane was around, it felt as though everything made sense but was completely jumbled at the same time. It was like nothing else mattered; everything in his life was completely fine and would work itself out, but then everything centered around Magnus was this big mess of torn emotions, making his stomach ache and his heart beat faster. His body felt like he couldn't be still, his fingers twitching and his eyes always moving, needing to follow every movement that Magnus made, and sometimes it was hard to breathe.

The problem was Alec had been in love before.

Or at least, he had _thought_ that he had been in love before.

It had felt a lot like this at the beginning.

But then, almost two years into the relationship, he had found Rapheal Santiago in bed with another man, and it had turned out that monogamy had never really been something in the cards for the other man. He had listened to Raphael's stilted explanation, which was more just like one excuse after another, and it didn't really end well, given Isabelle Lightwood burst in and attacked him. He had made the mistake of telling his sister that Raphael was coming over to talk a few weeks after their break up, and Isabelle had crashed their little meeting, screaming at him for breaking her brothers heart and scratching at his face.

He had to admit, his love for his sister had grown in that moment.

For nearly five years, he hadn't gotten involved with anyone. Not seriously. He had been young and stupid with Raphael, and now that he could look back on the relationship, he knew that it wasn't love. He had been seventeen when they had first gotten together, and he was naive. Maybe puppy love, but not proper love.

Not like with Magnus.

Because while he felt all of those crazy things with Magnus, there was also this undeniable calm.

A lot of the time, he did feel as though his heart was going to beat out of his chest and as though his blood was permanently running hot and cold. But then there were times when they were just watching TV, Magnus' arms wrapped around him as they were stretched out on the couch, his fingers tracing patterns on Alec's arms. Or when they were out having breakfast at their favorite diner, and Magnus snagged all of the kiwifruit out of Alec's fruit salad, and Alec always stole Magnus' extra packets of syrup to pour over his pancakes. Or when they were out at dinner with all of their friends, and Magnus would put his hand on his thigh under the table—not in a sexual way, or at least not _all_ the time, and would rub his thumb against Alec's knee.

It was just the feeling of being completely and utterly comfortable.

And Alec didn't want to loose that for the world.

Which is why he hadn't yet told Magnus that he loved him.

He didn't want to jinx it.

From his side, he was scared that the instant he said it out loud, it would make it real. For now he could pretend that it was just...It was just a really intense _like_ , not love. And when it became real, it became something that could hurt him, or that he could loose.

From Magnus's side—Magnus had been in love, and been hurt, just like him. Which was why it had taken them so long to get together in the first place, because they were both so careful with who they let into their heart. Alec didn't want to risk saying how he felt and Magnus getting scared at leaving him. Because as flirty and confident that Magnus came off, there was a wall in his eyes and around his heart that Alec had only just started to see coming down.

"You're thinking too hard, darling," Magnus hummed out as he walked back into the lounge, reaching out with his thumb to smooth at the frown lines between Alec's eyes. "You'll give yourself an aneurysm." Alec rolled his eyes at his lovers concern, but it was clearly out of endearment and not annoyance, and Magnus handed him a bottle of beer, taking a sip from the glass of wine in his own hand.

"I'm not watching _Dance Moms_ again," Alec warned him as Magnus picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

"But it's so good!" Magnus pouted.

"It really isn't," Alec huffed as he took a sip of his beer. Magnus grinned and flicked through the channels before settling on _Hemlock Grove_. "And this one isn't too much better!" Alec protested. "This one's creepy as shit!"

"Oh, shut up, Alexander," Magnus snipped playfully, stretching himself out on the couch so that his back was pressed up against Alec's side. Alec's body molded for him naturally, wrapping an arm around Magnus and tilting his head to the side so that it was resting against his boyfriends. They were quiet for almost the whole show, both boys finishing off their drinks. It was a Sunday night, and they both had work the next day, but it had already been decided that Alec was going to stay the night at Magnus'. He already had a spare toothbrush and razor and a drawer of clothes at Magnus' place, just like Magnus had at Alec's, and it definitely made sleepovers a lot easier.

"Magnus?" Alec began, his fingers curling nervously as they waited for Netflix to switch to the next episode.

"Yes?" Magnus tilted his head backwards to look up at Alec.

"I..." his words got caught in his throat, and in all honesty, he had no idea what he was planning on saying in the first place. Magnus turned around on the couch, putting one hand on Alec's thigh and giving it a light squeeze.

"Is something wrong? Is it what you were thinking about earlier?" Magnus looked concerned as Alec took in a deep breath and looked away from the man. His blue eyes were clouded as he tipped his head backwards so that it was resting against the back of the couch. Magnus lifted his hand and trailed it through Alec's messy hair, twisting it between his long fingers, his painted green nails contrasting with the dark strands. Finally, Alec opened his eyes and shook his head, his teeth biting into his lower lip.

"Nothing's wrong," Alec breathed. "Nothing, I just...I want you to know..." Magnus frowned in confusion, searching the gorgeous blue eyes that he could never get enough of, but before he could think about what was going on, Alec was lunging forward, covering his mouth with his own. Magnus wanted to ask what was going on in his head, but there was something about the way that Alec was kissing him...And it told him everything that he needed to know.

The urgency, the passion, the pure need—there was no way Magnus could pull himself away from his lover. Alec pushed Magnus backwards until they were stretched out on the couch, Alec braced over Magnus with one hand at his hip and the other next to head to hold himself up, and Magnus gripping Alec's shirt, jerking it upward. They pulled apart for a split second so that Magnus could rip Alec's shirt off, tossing it to the floor, and then he was scratching his fingernails down the blue eyed boys muscular back.

Alec's lips were entrancing.

Magnus had never felt this way about kissing anyone.

He wasn't an idiot, he knew that it wasn't just because Alec had the most delicious mouth in the world. It was because for the first time in a really, really long time, he was ready to give himself completely over to someone.

Alec's tongue licked it's way inside Magnus' mouth, tracing over his teeth and suckling on his own tongue. Every scratch of Magnus' fingers on Alec's back made the younger man groan against the others mans mouth, and Magnus felt his body responding instantly to every roll of Alec's hips against his. They became a mess, pulling at each others clothes until they were both only in their briefs.

"Alec..." Magnus panted as they pulled apart for a split second, Alec kissing his way down his neck, nipping at his flawless skin. "Alec," Magnus repeated, tightening his fingers on Alec's hips to try and pull him out of the haze of lust that was waving over the pair of them, hanging over Alec's head.

"What is it?" Alec asked, his eyes glowing and hooded, his lips puffy from their kisses. He looked positively gorgeous and Magnus' whole body ached.

"I know," Magnus told him, his voice soft and gentle, referring to Alec's words that had started this whole tangle of limbs and crashing of lips. Alec's heart tightened for a second as he stared down into his lovers catlike eyes. But there wasn't any fear or apprehension as Magnus wound his arms around Alec's neck. "I know," he repeated once more, before their lips met again.

 _Oh my god, so I re-watched_ What A Girl Wants _in the weekend, it came up on my Netflix. Forgot how much I loved the movie. And—holy shit—I realized it came out thirteen years ago! I feel so old. I can't even remember the amount of times I watched it when I was about twelve or thirteen. I also had a massive crush on Oliver James, it was ridiculous. But he was just such a babe! And he had a guitar and a motorbike, which was just so cool when you were a teenager ;) Haha. Oh and a couple of songs from there which I'm in love with is_ Half Life _by Duncan Sheik and_ Ride of Your Life _the cover by Oliver James._

 _Also, side note, I'm thinking about a werewolf AU. Can you tell I've been reading too much_ Teen Wolf _? Haha. But what's your thinking? Jace would be an Alpha and Clary would be human. What are your thoughts?_

 _Leave a review, let me know what you think :)_


	11. K : Keep Your Head Up

_Hey, pretties! We got a happier one in this chapter :) Hope you enjoy._

 **K : _Keep Your Head Up_ \- Ben Howard  
** **Requested by** _**xXxNatalyaxXx**_

 _May you find happiness there  
_ _May all your hopes all turn out right  
_ _Ooh may you find happiness there  
_ _May you find warmth in the middle of the night_

 _Yeah, keep your head up, keep your heart strong  
_ _Oh, no, no, no, no  
_ _Keep your mind set, keep you hair long  
_ _Oh my my darlin', keep your head up, keep you heart strong  
_ _No no no no, keep your mind set in your ways  
_ _Keep your heart strong  
_ _Cause I'll always remember you the same  
_ _Oh eyes like wild flowers within demons of change_

Simon Lewis never really had any friends. At kindergarten it was okay, because kids all kind of hung out together in the sandpit and on the mat with the toys. But it was in primary school, after he got glasses and his asthma started becoming more obvious because all the boys wanted to play football and tag on the field. He didn't really mind at first, because he loved his comics and books, and he didn't mind shoving down his food quickly so that he could skip off to the library and become immersed there. When he got to middle school, it was a little bit harder. Because while all the other people—boys and girls alike—were getting bigger, he still remained quite short and weedy, and a little bit sickly. That made him a target for bullies, and he was very well acquainted with needing to pull his books out of the toilet and blindly looking for his glasses in the smelly locker room after gym class.

Magnus Bane had always shone brightly. He made friends left, right and center and never needed to worry about being the last one to find a partner in class or someone that he needed to sit next to at lunch. Everything seemed to come so easily for Magnus, the teachers loved him and he was always smiling, but when he got home, his mum would be trying to hide the fact that she was crying over money, and his father was pulling double shifts at the grocery store down the street. They had never been very well off, but they had always had enough for what what they needed. That was until his younger sister had been diagnosed with leukemia, and all of their money had been funneled into getting her the best possible treatments out there. His sister had gotten better, and she was now back at school, and with a bright smile that rivaled Magnus', but his parents were still reeling with the struggles financially. He loved his family, his adored his little sister, and he was too young to really care about money, but he had always been an empathetic boy, and his heart broke for his parents.

Isabelle Lightwood was the prettiest girl in all of her classes. Ever since she was a baby, with her big eyes and tuft of dark colored hair, people had always cooed over her. She didn't get her first haircut until she was almost ten, so her hair was long and flowing down her back, and she brushed it for twenty minutes every night until it was shining. Like most pretty, charming girls, she drew in a group of friends, and so she wasn't ever alone. But school never felt like an escape, because if she wasn't the best—if she wasn't the smartest in her classes, if she wasn't the fastest in her track team or jumping the highest in her gymnastics squad—then her mother, Maryse Lightwood would give her this tight lipped look that made her insides feel as though they were going to dissolve. Isabelle acted as though she didn't care about it, especially as she got older, and she purposefully started acting out, because she couldn't always be the best, and if she couldn't keep her mum happy, then what was the point? And especially after her youngest brother, Max Lightwood, was killed, there were hardly any smiles around her home, and she needed to look for other ways to be appreciated. That's where all the older boys came in, with their cars, and their tattoo's, and their smooth, corny pick up lines that still managed to get in her pants.

Alec Lightwood knew that he was a little bit different. He didn't look any different—in fact he had been told on multiple occasions that he was very good looking. He had similar features to his sister, with the tanned skin and the dark hair, but his eyes were a piercing blue. He was quite quiet, he liked to keep to himself, enjoying his own company, and that of his younger sister and brother. He was the oldest—not by much with Isabelle, only ten months—but he was still over protective as hell of both of them. So when they were all out for a family day at the beach, and Max had been kicking his soccer ball around, and it had bounced onto a nearby road and he had run out to get it, not seeing the car coming; he took that hard, on himself. As though it was his responsibility, and so it follows, it was his fault that Max was killed. And as if that burden wasn't enough as the years went by, he knew that he was different from the other boys in his class, because when they all started noticing pretty girls, he really couldn't care less. He liked girls, he really did. They smelt nice and they were funny and smart. But he definitely didn't want to kiss any of them, or try and see up there skirts the way the other boys did. Something was wrong with him, and it didn't matter what his sister said, he knew it.

Clarissa Morgenstern didn't trust many people. In fact, the only person she trusted for a long time was her mother, Jocelyn Morgenstern. Her father bounced them from home to home all through her childhood, never letting them stay in one place for very long. The reason for that was because he was a thief, and being in one place for too long drew attention to them. He was mean, and spiteful, and it scared Clary that he always had a gun tucked in the waistband of his jeans. Jocelyn was too afraid to leave when she was younger, because she had no idea how she would support herself and her five year old daughter. But when she was eight, Jocelyn got them away, and they ran. It was a long time before they stopped running, because every time that they thought they were safe, he would somehow find them. They stayed with a variety of people, just trying to put distance between them, and they would all expect something in return for their hospitality. He had hundreds of friends in low places who owed him favors, and they didn't care at all about his daughter or wife, they just cared about covering their own asses. They finally found somewhere that they could call home when they were safe, but that didn't mean she felt safe. She jumped at every noise, and she second guessed every greeting a stranger gave her on the street.

Jace Wayland looked as though he had everything going right for him on the outside. While he had to grow up without a mother, because she had passed away when he was only eighteen months old, his father had always been there for him and provided him with what he needed. He was a wealthy surgeon and they lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. That was until he broke one of his hands, the tendons in his hand getting torn in a rock climbing accident. That was when Jace was nine. His hand healed, but the tendons were still damaged, and sometimes he had difficulty controlling the tremor in his fingers. That wasn't okay for a top surgeon. From that point on, he became very reliant on morphine, and along with that came the alcohol. And hand in hand with that came anger. At _everything_. Most of all, it showed itself toward Jace. The bruises could usually be hidden, but sometimes if he fell wrong, or if he let his mouth run away on him, he would go to school with a black eye or a split lip.

Life was hard.

Everyone said that you didn't know real problems were until you got older. And that was true, childhood was meant to be when you had it easiest, but it didn't belittle the problems that they had.

And some of them would never have gotten through it if they didn't have each other, if they didn't have someone to keep them strong, if they didn't have someone who stepped in and made them aware that they weren't alone and they just needed someone to tell them to keep their high. Maybe it didn't solve the problem, but it told them that they didn't have to do this by themselves, and that there was someone who was there at their side.

Like when Alec found out what was happening with Jace, and convinced him to go to the authorities.

Or when Jace managed to break through Clary's barriers and showed her that he wasn't going to let her down.

Or when Clary stood up to the bullies who were picking on Simon, kicking one of them between the legs.

Or when Simon developed a genuine crush on Isabelle, and made her realize that she was worth so much more that the trashy boys she was trying to fill her time with.

Or when Isabelle saw through all of Magnus' smiles' and knew that he needed a true friend to just listen to him.

Or when Magnus held Alec the night before he came out as gay to his parents, and he was so scared he couldn't stop crying.

The six of them took a while to all come together. Jace had known the Lightwood siblings for a while, but it took them all a while to all actually become friends. Clary took a long time to let the Golden Boy with the charming smile into her life, she was much more comfortable either by herself or with the geeky kid with glasses and a stutter. Simon's lack of self confidence meant he was painfully shy, and it took him a long time to even gather the courage to even speak to Isabelle, muchless tell her how he felt. Isabelle had told herself for so long that she didn't care about her mothers opinion, even though it meant she had a lowered one of herself, and she didn't think that Simon could actually like her for her personality. And with Magnus and Alec...They helped each other in more ways than they could ever count.

They banded together, and they didn't let go.

They kept each other strong.

"Oi! Iz! Simon!" Jace shouted as he walked down the long hallway. "Seriously, how long does it take to order a pizza?!" He rounded the corner to the kitchen and then stopped, rolling his eyes when he saw the pair of them, making out like a couple of teenagers. "Dude..." Jace groaned closing his eyes as he waited for them to pull apart. "Really?"

"It's cute," Clary hummed out, suddenly appearing behind Jace and putting her arms around his waist. "They've been married for two years now, I think it's adorable they still act like a new couple."

"It's disgusting, that's what it is," Alec said as he joined the two in the doorway.

"You know we can hear you, right?" Isabelle grouched. Simon's cheeks were flaring red and he hid his face in her thick black hair.

"I agree with Clary," Magnus piped up, throwing one arm around Clary and the other around Alec.

"Of course you do," Alec rolled his eyes. "You always agree with Clary."

"That's not entirely true," Magnus smirked and nuzzled his fiancée's neck. Alec still tried to keep the grumpy look on his face but failed after a few seconds.

"So?" Jace asked with arched eyebrows. "Tell me you at least ordered the pizza. I'm starving." Isabelle at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Jace looked horrified. "You didn't even order the pizza?! But I'm _starving_! I think I'm gonna _die_!"

"Aw, baby," Clary mocked him as she patted his chest. "It's okay. I'm sure you can survive another half an hour without food."

"I don't know," Jace crossed his arms with a pout. Alec smirked and then looked back over at Simon and Izzy.

"If we leave you two alone, will you actually order the pizza?" He asked his sister and brother in law.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll get there," Isabelle lazily promised, wrapping her arms back around her husband and pulling him in close. Jace was still pouting, but Alec grabbed his best friend, dragging him down the hallway and promising him that he had a bag of Doritos stashed away in the lounge that they could open. Magnus and Clary followed them down the hall, their arms linked together as they talked about a movie that they wanted to see that weekend.

"Are you happy?" Simon asked, pressing a few kisses to Isabelle's neck.

"The happiest," she replied with a smile.

 _Alright! Now, in regards to the story idea I brought up in the last chapter, the werewolf AU. I've decided I will go ahead with that! It won't be posted for a while, but I've written a couple of chapters to see how I feel about it. The lovely_ FrenchBenzo _and_ reppinda5o3 _have read the first chapter, and are listening to me ramble as I try to put the story together, so a big thank you to them :)_

 _Couple of highlights of the past few weeks for me—the song_ Garden _and_ Trouble _by Halsey. Shit, they're both incredible. Also, the_ Wonder Woman _trailer! How fucking badass does Gal Gadot look?! The song_ Sad Song _by We The Kings, I absolutely love it. And, oh my god, how have I never known about Tyler Posey's nose piercing?! Holy shit, it just made me fall in love even more. Oh yeah—and I'm going to_ Suicide Squad _tomorrow! I'm a little bit worried because of such mixed reviews, but I hope it's good._

 _Please leave a review, let me know what ya'll think, any recommendations for songs or fangirling about_ Wonder Woman _or Tyler Posey (or anything_ Teen Wolf _related) xx_


	12. L : Love You Like I'm Gonna Lose You

_Next chapter! Now, I know that this story isn't as...Soft? as the song as is? Oops?_

 **L : _Love You Like I'm Gonna Lose You_ \- Meghan Trainor featuring John Legend. **  
**Requested by _InuandKaglove4Life_**

 _So I'm gonna love you  
_ _Like I'm gonna lose you  
_ _I'm gonna hold you  
_ _Like I'm saying goodbye wherever we're standing  
_ _I won't take you for granted 'cause we'll never know when  
_ _When we'll run out of time so I'm gonna love you  
_ _Like I'm gonna lose you  
_ _I'm gonna love you like I'm gonna lose you_

Jace Wayland should have known that Clarissa Morgenstern was only going to bring him trouble.

Hell, the first time that they met she was pointing a gun directly at his head.

That should have been the first clue.

But all he could see was her bright green eyes, leather mini skirt and fiery red hair.

And all he could think was that he wanted her.

The two of them had known each others reputations for some time before they had actually met. Jace and his team had been together since they were teenagers, beginning with stealing cars from the rich, stripping them down for parts and then passing them on. They had been based in Los Angeles until things got too heated for them. From there they bounced around, pulling heists to keep them going.

He met Clary first in Madrid.

She worked with her brother, Jonathon Morgenstern, and Magnus Bane, who moved in the same sort of circles that they did. They had also started in Los Angeles, but they had left a lot sooner than they had. The Morgenstern siblings and Magnus had a good thing going; when they pulled off a heist they were flawless, and there were never any witnesses.

Until them and Jace's team focused on the same item.

There was a big party happening at a gorgeous villa, and the owner was a wealthy businessman who was known to be completely corrupt. Simon Lewis, Isabelle Lightwoods boyfriend, had hacked into his computer systems and he could easily see that the investments that shareholders were putting into the business were being funneled into this mans personal accounts.

So when they found out that he was having a big party in his home, where he kept all of his most expensive of possessions.

Like a forty thousand dollar necklace that he had been boasting about, and that was going to be locked up in a reinforced safe on the third storey of the villa.

They knew that there were going to be guards, but that was why Jace was going to be flanked by Isabelle and her older brother, Alec Lightwood. Isabelle was an immaculate distraction, but she could kick ass like the best of them if her charm didn't work, and Alec could just plain kick ass. It wasn't hard for Simon to forge invitations for them to get into the party. They mingled at the party for a few hours, watching as everyone had a few drinks and loosened up. There was a gorgeous red head who was there as well, wearing a long green dress that had a slit up the side, who was dancing with a handsome blonde. If he wasn't here on a mission, then he would definitely be chasing after her. He also hacked into all of the security cameras, and managed to direct him upstairs to the place where the jewels were kept.

Which was where he had seen the gorgeous red head, a gun in her hand pointed directly at his head, and the gorgeous necklace in the other hand.

"Jace Wayland," she stated with a smirk and a raise of her eyebrows. "Or is it Herondale? I get confused with your fake passports." Jace frowned, completely taken aback, and it was in that moment that she lunged forward, smacking him across the head with the butt of his gun and knocking him out.

* * *

It took them a while before they actually properly met. They ran into each other twice more, and then it turned out that Magnus and Alec had been rendezvousing at every opportunity they could. Jace hadn't really known how to react when he had first found out, but it wasn't as though they were blatant rivals. And so almost ten months after she had knocked him out and got one over on him at the villa in Madrid, they came together. They all joined together, forming one hell of a kick ass team.

It didn't take too much longer for Jace and Clary to fall into bed together.

It was inevitable, really. Isabelle always went on about how the sexual tension when they were in a room together was stifling and she literally cheered when they both did the walk of shame the next day from the hotel room they had been staying in. Jonathon really hadn't had much to say, but Clary knew that there had been a conversation between the two boys, because for a few days, Jace was walking on egg shells whenever he was around her brother, and barely touched her.

The first time that he said he loved her, they were in the middle of a police chase, Jace behind the wheel and Clary hanging out the window, a gun in her hand. He had shouted at her to aim for the tyres, and she had rolled her eyes and shouted back ' _what did he think she was doing_ '. She had shot out the front window of one the police cruisers and then she got the two front tyres, and the car spun out behind them. She had let out a whoop and slid back into the car, leaning over to give him a hard kiss as she sped off down the highway.

The second time he said he loved her, it had been mouthed at her rather than actually said out loud, when she was distracting a guard with her feminine wiles while he was sneaking past behind him to get the keys for an expensive Porsche.

Maybe it wasn't the most typical of settings, but it worked for them. And with the way that they lived, they had to steal every second that they had together, to show and tell each other what they meant to one another.

The life style that they lead was a fast and furious one. Most of the time they didn't even know where they were going to be the next week, bouncing from one city to the next, occasionally crossing countries when things were getting too heated for them. At one point, their team had needed to break up and all go separate ways for almost three months. Magnus and Alec went to Tokyo, Jonathon holed up with some pretty girl he had met in Spain, Simon and Isabelle went to Australia and Jace and Clary went to the Dominican Republic.

It was completely unusual, for them to have actual down time. But after a heist they pulled off a couple of weeks ago, their faces and names were plastered all over London, they all decided it was best for them to get out the hell out of dodge.

And so here they were, using the cash they had brought with them to pay for a tiny secluded cabin out by the beach, somewhere that they could be off the radar until Simon got in contact with them when they weren't so high on the wanted list. But for now, they had time to take a breath, and that wasn't something to take lightly in their lives.

Jace took a deep breath as he walked through the tiny cabin they were staying in. It was tiny and barely furnished, but it was expensive because of it's location. It was on private property, right beside the beach, in a tiny alcove, with only two ways in; either by the long drive way where they had already placed alarms to warn them if there was movement, and by boat. They only left the cabin to go into town and get food and supplies, and the rest of the time they spent on the beach or in the cabin.

Mostly unclothed.

"I love you," Jace breathed as he kissed his way down her neck. "I love you, I love you, I love you..." Clary let out a giggle which was very unlike her and spoke to how relaxed she felt. Jace rolled off her, landing on the soft, white sand next to her and let out a contented sigh, one arm resting over his eyes to block out the sun. They had only been there for three weeks, but for them, that was a long time. It was actually the longest time he had been in one place since they lived in Los Angeles, so many years ago.

"Do you sometimes think about how different our lives would be if we had met another way?" Clary suddenly asked, her voice a little sleepy. They had been laying on the beach for hours, and even though they were wearing sunblock and had re-applied not too long ago, Jace knew they were both going to be burnt. Especially Clary, given how fair her skin was. Jace reached out and linked his fingers with his.

"We wouldn't be us if we had met differently," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I know," she mumbled, and Jace realize then that her voice hadn't sounded sleepy, it sounded sad. He frowned and turned his head toward her. Her lower lip was quivering a little and he sat up, pulling her upward with him and they shuffled backwards so that they were under the shade of a tree.

"Baby..." he whispered, reaching out and touching her face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just..." she let out a groan and rolled her eyes backwards, tipping her head back so that her long hair fell down her bare back. "I'm just thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad." Jace stared at her, watching as she took in a couple of deep breath, her chest rising and falling. She was only wearing her black bikini and he was there in his board shorts, and he could see what she meant—right now, they felt like just two people, on a vacation at the beach, not a care in the world.

"Clary," Jace bit down on his lower lip as he considered his next words. Then he put a hand on her knee, rubbing his thumb against her skin. "Me and you? This is us," he slid both hands under her thighs and pulled her in close to him, gently maneuvering her so that she was sitting on his lap so that she could wrap her legs around him and their bodies was close to each other. "Do you really think that you would be happy with a cookie cutter life?" He instantly saw her adorable nose begin to crinkle. "You at home with the kids, having dinner ready for when I get home from my nine til five job..." the look of disgust on her face was clear. "Is that really what you wish our lives were like?"

"You're right," she stuck her finger in her mouth, making a throwing up motion. "That sounds horrible."

"You got that right," Jace smirked at her, leaning in to steal a kiss.

"I like our life," she added. "Don't know where my head went."

"Maybe it's the fact that all of us are on the wanted list, and this is the first time that we've actually had proper time alone together since..." Jace thought for a second and then snorted. "Well, since we actually got together." Clary laughed and shrugged. "Maybe it's because there's a chance we could loose each other, if we're caught." The smile on her face faded a little, but it didn't go away completely.

"But I guess that's all part of the fun," she murmured with a twinkle in her eye and Jace nodded. "Just gonna have to love you until that day comes." Clary replied as she put her hands on either side of his face and brought him in close to her. She brushed her lips over his nose, and his cheeks before settling them a breath away from his mouth.

"Yeah," Jace agreed as his fingers trailed down her back, finding the ties of her bikini and tugging at them. "Something like that." She let out another one of her giggles that he was never going to get tired of hearing, throwing her bikini top over his shoulder and lunging for her mouth.

 _So me and the hubby have been on a total Disney binge the past week or so. We've gone through_ Treasure Planet, Mulan, Pocahontas, Zootopia _and_ Lion King _. Yeah, we may be in our twenties, but you're never fucking too old for Disney! My hubby's favourite Disney song is_ Circle of Life _from Lion King, and mine is_ Colours of the Wind _from Pocahontas, very closely followed by_ Two Worlds _from Tarzan. Tell me, tell me yours :)_

 _Also, I'm re-watching_ Numb3rs _right from season one. I used to absolutely love this show—it's still absolutely awesome. Charlie is adorable in the shy, nerdy way, and then Don is hot in the surly, mutter-mutter glare way. LOL._

 _Anyway! Leave a review, let me know what you think :)_


	13. M : Me and My Broken Heart

_Update! I actually really liked writing this one, this was one of my favorite oneshots in this lot of songfics. I hope you guys enjoy it :)_

 _Just before heading in, quite a few of you guys have asked for my name for Facebook and Snapchat and tumblr (although I'm barely ever on there). And that's totally fine, I love meeting you guys on there and it's so much easier and talk via PM and shit. But you need to tell me your name, because if you add me and we have no mutual friends, I'm just gonna leave you chilling in the limbo section. Haha. So just make sure you're telling me your name as well :)_

 **M : _Me and My Broken Heart_ \- Rixton  
Requested by _It's Kris_**

 _All I need is a little love in my life  
_ _All I need is a little love in the dark  
_ _A little but I'm hoping it might kick start  
_ _Me and my broken heart  
_ _I need a little loving tonight  
_ _Hold me so I'm not falling apart  
_ _A little but I'm hoping it might kick start  
_ _Me and my broken heart_

Clarissa Fray took in a deep breath as she folded her arms tightly over her chest, trying to ignore the judging looks that were coming her way from the prim and proper looking mothers who were surrounding her. It was the same, every single day, and usually she was completely fine with it, but it had been a shitty day today. She tried to make herself taller, lifting herself onto her tip toes to see over the crowd and look toward the front doors, but there was only so much she could do for her tiny stature. The school was quickly emptying and there was no sign of her little boy, and so she sighed and began walking up the steps. The hallways were silent, the heels of her boots clicking away on the linoleum as she looked for her sons classroom.

"Mr Herondale?" Clary asked as she approached the room and rapped her knuckles twice on the door.

"Clary, hey," Jace Herondale looked up from where he was sitting on one the top of the low tables, her son at one of the small wooden seats, looking petulant, his lower lip stuck out. "How many times have I told you to call me Jace?" Clary gave him a strained smile back, but her focus was on her son, and the scrape on his chin.

"What happened?" She asked worriedly as she came over to kneel next to Liam Verlac.

"It's nothing big," Jace began, his voice soothing and calm, the exact opposite of what Clary would sound like if she needed to deal with screaming seven year olds all day, five days a week. "Liam and one of the other kids—"

"It was Tyler," Liam grumbled, his arms crossed moodily over his chest.

"Tyler Whitewillow?" Clary asked, trying to keep the curl of disgust off her face. It wasn't Liam's first run in with this kid, and it wouldn't be Clary's first run in with that family either. Kaelie Whitewillow, who was Kaelie Jackson when Clary first met her, was Tyler's step-mother, a prissy bitch that Clary had gone to school with. While Clary had dropped out when she was sixteen because she had gotten pregnant, Kaelie finished school as head cheerleader, went off and got breast implants and a nose job, and travelled for a while on daddy's money. She then married a man fifteen years her senior and became a glorified house wife and arm candy. Also, step-mother, and a shitty one at that. Since Liam and Tyler had started going to school, there had been some uncomfortable encounters, and Clary was trying her hardest to avoid the blonde haired bimbo. "Little prick..." she hissed out and Jace tried to smother his smirk with a frown.

"Language," he attempted to sound like a teacher but Clary just sighed and rubbed her hand over her face.

"What did he say, baby?" Clary asked quietly, looking back at Liam.

"We were drawing pictures of our family, and he said that I didn't have a real family because I didn't have a daddy," Liam's voice sounded a little thin and his lower lip stuck out, but he jutted his chin forward, trying not to show how hurt he was. "So I pushed him, and then he pushed me back and I fell over." Clary looked down at her little boy's glassy eyes and she sighed, reaching out a wrapping an arm around his little shoulders.

"You know he's full of it, right?" Clary murmured, and Jace couldn't help the smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth as he watched the mother and son interact. "You have the best family in the world," she nudged her sons shoulders and he blinked up at her, his big green eyes wide. "You've got Nanna Jocie, and Papa Val. And you've got Uncle Simon, and Uncle Alec, and Aunty Izzy, and—"

"And you!" Liam's eyes were still a little watery but there was a smile on his face as he reached out his hands for his mum, who gave him a blinding smile back and tightened her arms around her son. "Tyler's just a prick," Liam announced, repeating back Clary's insult, as he pulled back and Jace let out a snort and Clary looked a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, but maybe we won't use that word in Mr Herondale's class," she gave him a guilty look out of the corner of her eye, but Jace just smiled back at her.

"Jace," he corrected her for the umpteenth time.

"I can call you Jace?" Liam gave him a cheeky grin, rubbing at his eyes with his fists.

"Only outside of class," Jace grinned down at him. "And only if you don't tell the other kids."

"Promise," Liam bared his teeth before bouncing up from his chair. "Wanna see my picture, mama?"

"I sure do," Clary straightened up, allowing Liam to toddle across the room to where there were a spread of paintings drying in the afternoon sun. Clary ran a hand threw her curly red hair that was doing all sorts of crazy things given she had only been able to find a car park three blocks away from the school, so had run to get here by the time the bell had gone for when her son would be released. Jace put his hands in his pockets as he stood next to Clary, the pair of them watching Liam look through the paintings to find his own. Clary couldn't help but look at Jace out of the corner of her eye, her gaze subtly running up and down his body before furrowing her eyebrows and trying to concentrate on her son.

Jace Herondale.

Liam's teacher since the beginning of the school year was this utterly gorgeous, golden haired, golden eyed specimen of a man who seemed to have a complete sweetheart personality to match. He was amazing with kids, he was incredibly patient with the cougar mothers who hit on him at every moment they could, and Liam clearly adored him.

And then there was the other thing.

He liked Clary.

He had asked her out a total of eleven times since the first time they had met at a parent-teacher conference almost eight months ago.

Clary had turned him down flat the first couple of times. She had been screwed over by Sebastian Verlac, Liam's father, and then just last year her brother had been killed in a car accident. Because of Sebastian, she had trust issues with men, and because of her brothers death and how close she had been with him, she was still feeling quite vulnerable. Jonathon Fray had been her most solid supporter since Sebastian screwed her over and spat her out, and after he was killed, Liam was the only thing that had kept her functioning.

And so now, with Jace and his big, warm smile and his comforting voice, and the fucking amazing way he smelt, Clary felt as though her walls were starting to break down.

Especially whenever she saw Liam and Jace together.

She tried to ignore the little fluttering feeling that she got in her stomach every time she was around him, or the squeeze in her heart when he would send one of his soft smiles her way, but it was getting harder as time went by. Her best friend, Isabelle Lightwood, had seen him once when they were grocery shopping and had run into the teacher, and she hadn't shut up about him, saying that Clary needed to take a chance on him.

Clary was trying to keep her resolve, but it really wasn't working so well...

"You know," Jace began softly, his voice low so that Liam couldn't hear. "I'm not going to be Liam's teacher in a months time." Clary flickered her eyes back over to Jace, arching an eyebrow.

"That sucks," she said bluntly. Jace's lips curved upward in a smile and Clary's eyes widened. "Wait, no, like—Liam really likes you. I hope that he likes his next teacher as much as you." Jace grinned and nodded once.

"Yeah, but I'll still see him around. The hallways and the play ground..." he trailed off and then gave Clary a pointed look. "Maybe around other places?"

"Look, Jace—" Clary really wasn't sure if she had the energy to turn him down again.

And she really didn't want to.

"Clary," Jace said steadily, turning around to look at her. "If the reason that you keep saying 'no' is because you don't like me, then I'll stop. If you think that you're not ready right now, then I'll wait. But if it's because you're scared of what people will think of you, or that it will mess things up with Liam, then I'm just going to keep asking." Clary's swallowed hard. "Because all those mums out there who judge you on the way you look, they're all full of shit. You're the most loving, amazing woman, and more importantly, _mother_ out there, and I think that I could make you happy. I think that I could make _both_ of you happy," he nodded over to Liam, who was now singing nonsense under his breath, appearing as though he had been distracted from looking for his painting and was now flipping through a book.

"Jace, I don't..." she took in a deep breath, rubbing her hands up and down her tattooed arms and then shaking her fingers through her mess of hair again. She chewed down on her lower lip, her eyes going over to Liam, and then back at Jace, who was staring at her intently. There was a hopeful glow in his eyes and she couldn't stop her small smile. She forced the smile away as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not going out with you until the school year is over, and you're officially no longer his teacher."

"Done," Jace's smile was almost blinding.

"And we take this slow," she continued, trying to keep her voice level even though her head was spinning, completely taken by surprise that she was actually going through with this.

"Absolutely," Jace was nodding his head rapidly.

"And is there any chance that you can flunk Tyler Whitewillow?" Jace let out a snort at that but Clary only looked as though she was half joking.

"Uh, you can't flunk seven year olds," Jace reported back and Clary tried not to look too disappointed. "They sort of pass if they show up and learn the alphabet and finger paint on paper rather than the table."

"Dammit," she twisted her mouth and then perked up as she thought of another idea. "Can you give him detention?"

"Not really, not just because you're asking me to," Jace let out a laugh, shaking his head, his golden hair bouncing around his handsome face.

"Then what's the point in dating a teacher?" Clary reasoned as Liam started his way back over to her, his backpack slung over one shoulder and his painting carefully held out in one hand.

"Well, I can read a really good bed time story," Jace reasoned, biting down on his lower lip and looking a little nervous about how she would take his proposition. In all honesty, the idea of seeing Jace and her son curled up on the couch in their tiny apartment made Clary's heart feel as though it was going to beat right out of her chest with happiness, but she tried to keep her expression neutral.

"Sounds like we've got a deal," she gave him a smile before Liam tugged on one of her hands.

"Look at my picture, mama!" He announced proudly, holding it up, and Clary knelt down next to him, not minding when Jace rested his hand on her shoulder.

 _Okay! Now a couple of things. First things first; songs I'm addicted to at the moment._ Bubblegum Bitch _by Marina and the Diamonds. I watched a fanvid for Lydia Martin (who's a queen, btw) and I heard the song on there and I'm now completely in love. Then there is_ Closer _by Chainsmokers and Halsey,_ Gravel to Temple _by Hayley Kiyoko and_ Homeostasis _by Nostalghia._

 _The next thing is; either_ Without A Clue _or_ Feet First, Don't Fall _is going to become one of my stories that gets updated twice a month. Which one would you guys prefer?_

 _And then lastly—I'm so sorry, there's so many!—one of the new stories that I'm working on is going to be one where they're all pretty much tattooed. So my question to you guys is do you guys have any suggestions for tattoo's? I've got quite a few ideas, but I decided I'd open it up to you guys, get your ideas. We've got our usual; Clary, Jace, Isabelle, Simon, Magnus and Alec, but then there's also Raphael and Kaelie. So let me know, and the meaning behind the tattoo or what it could possibly stand for, and I'll note it down and might include it :)_

 _That's everything!_

 _So leave a review, let me know your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, etc etc!_

 _Love you all :) xx_


	14. N : Need You Now

_Next update, pretties!_

 **N : _Need You Now_ \- Lady Antebellum**  
 **Requested by _It's Kris_**

 _Another shot of whiskey  
_ _Can't stop looking at the door  
_ _Wishing you'd come sweeping in the way you did before  
_ _And I wonder if I ever cross your mind?  
_ _For me it happens all the time_

 _It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I need you now  
_ _Said I wouldn't call but I've lost all control and I need you now  
_ _And I don't know how I can do without  
_ _I just need you now_

For as long as Jace Wayland could remember, his best friends were Alec Lightwood and Sebastian Verlac. Alec was the sweet and quiet one. Sebastian was the sarcastic and loud one. Jace was the charming and smart one. All of them were incredible good looking; they were a triple threat. As they grew older, they were all still close to each other, but there were certain things that started pulling them apart. Mainly it was just life, and then the distance that came with moving out of childhood neighborhoods and to separate Universities and all different jobs.

Another thing that became a problem, mainly between Jace and Sebastian, was Clarissa Fray.

A feisty, red-headed photographer that Sebastian met one night when Alec and Jace were running late to their fortnightly drinks at a local bar. They had walked in, and the girl was just walking away, back to the table with her friends, and Jace hadn't really paid all that much attention to her. Except two months later, and Sebastian seemed to be head over heels for this girl, and he was introduced to her for the first time.

And he was in love.

Ridiculous, heart-stopping love.

Jace tried to ignore it, he tried to pretend that when he looked at her, all he saw was his best friends new girlfriend. He tried to ignore the way that when she laughed and tossed her head back, he didn't get a thousand stupid butterflies swarming around in his stomach.

What made it worse was that he knew Clary could do better than Sebastian.

 _He_ was better than Sebastian.

And he couldn't help but think that if he had been on time to have drinks with Sebastian that day, then there was a chance he could have been the first one to meet her, and then she would be with him, not Sebastian.

Because while Sebastian was most definitely one of his best friends, he had known him long enough to know that when he got bored, he was going to dump this incredible, amazing woman out in the cold. In fact, sometimes he didn't even have the decency to dump them before he climbed into bed with someone else. Sometimes he liked to have two, or three, going at the same time, just to keep things interesting. When they were younger, the boys had found it amusing. But now that they were almost twenty-five, things were a lot more serious, and they needed to be taking more responsibility for their actions.

He and Clary got close.

Jace didn't do it on purpose—in fact, he had tried to resist it for a while, because he knew that it was only going to make it harder on himself.

But he couldn't help it.

They had the same likes and dislikes when it came to music and movies, they had inside jokes, they danced together when they were all out drinking and Sebastian just wanted to sit in the corner and smoke his cigarettes. Sometimes when there was a movie coming out that none of their friends wanted to see, they would go together, and share a massive bucket of popcorn, their fingers brushing together every now and then. Or there were the times that they all went out for pizza; Alec, his boyfriend, Magnus Bane, Isabelle Lightwood and her partner Simon Lewis and then Sebastian, and they would sit next to each other, and Jace would pick the red peppers off her pizza and she would take the salami off his. And then there were the nights when they would call each other to ask some idle question, and then end up revealing far more about themselves than intended, and fall asleep with their phones propped between their ear and their pillows.

He never got any indication that she felt more than friendship toward him, though.

He kept telling himself that they were just friends—close friends, admittedly, but _just_ friends. Sure, there had been times where some glances that seemed to drag longer than usual, but he was pretty sure they were just in his head.

Even when things began getting rocky between her and Sebastian, she remained steadfastly loyal to him, the bright green of her eyes dimming just a little when she saw him flirting with some girl behind the counter when they all went out for drinks. Even when he got angry at her when she said something that he didn't like, and snapped at her, she would snap back angrily, defending herself, but wearing a hurt expression on her face.

Until one night.

Clary had taken two photos that were up for a national award, and were being shown at a big gallery opening on a Thursday night. It was the biggest break in her career, and she had been so excited it was pretty much all she could talk about since she had found out three weeks earlier. They had all brought tickets, and Isabelle had dragged Simon and Jace out to get them nice, fitted suits. They all arrived; Jace, Isabelle, Simon, Alec, Magnus and Clary's brother, Jonathon Fray—among the first at the opening. Sebastian had told him that he was working late, but that he would be there as soon as he could.

Jace couldn't help but think that for something this big, he would have taken the whole fucking day off work if necessary, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

Clary looked breath taking.

Her hair was pulled back into some sort of intricate bun at the nape of her neck, and there were little braids twisted on each side of her head, a few soft strands around her face. Her make up was minimal, although her lipstick was a dark shade that emphasized her gorgeous, full mouth. The dress she was wearing was a long sleeved white, lace mini that showed off her perfect, curvy figure and clung to her thighs, her legs looking longer than usual in the high heels that she was wearing.

Jace actually stammered a couple of times in conversation throughout the course of the night when he caught glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye.

Sebastian never showed up.

And while Clary looked disappointed, she didn't look completely surprised.

It was just after one in the morning when there was a knock at Jace's apartment door. He had gotten home about half an hour ago, and had showered and changed into a pair of sweats, getting ready to settle down in bed with a bottle of beer and a good movie. He walked toward the door and opened it hesitantly, surprised when he saw Clary standing there. She was still in her party dress, although her hair was now loose and flowing around her shoulders. Her make up was a little smudged, her lipstick pretty much worn off and her eyes were a little red. When she stepped into the apartment, he could smell whiskey on her breath.

"Clary, what are you—"

"I broke up with Sebastian," she said bluntly, swallowing hard as she turned to look at him. Jace frowned in surprise. "I broke up with Sebastian because...Because he's not the one that I should have been with in the first place," she snorted and shook her head. "I wish that it had been you I met first. And I know that there's this code, that I'm your best friends ex-girlfriend, but Jace, you're the one that I want to be with—you're the one that I need—" she was babbling, and she looked as though she was beginning to panic at his quiet, so he shut her up in the best way possible.

Kissing her hard on her lush, pink mouth and holding her delicate face in his hands.

"I need you, too."

 _I'm currently on another_ Veronica Mars _binge. I think I must go on one of these at least twice a year—re-watch all the seasons over again and the movie. Veronica is a total BAMF, Logan and Weevil are amazing, and Mac and Wallace are fucking awesome as well. It's soooooo fucking good!_

 _My song recommendations this time are_ Waves _by Kris Allen,_ Heathens _by Twenty One Pilots and_ Waiting Game _and_ Beggin' For Thread _by Banks. Banks is seriously amazing, a complete an utter babe and her songs are sensual as fuck._

 _Anyway! Let me know what you guys think about Veronica Mars and also any new song recommendations! Leave a review, let me know what you think :) xxx_


	15. O : Over and Over Again

_Next chapter, pretty people!_

 **O : _Over and Over Again_ \- Nathan Sykes**  
 **Requested by _Ads S_**

 _From the way you smile to the way you look_  
 _You capture me unlike no other_  
 _From the first hello, yeah, that's all it took_  
 _And suddenly we had each other_

 _And I won't leave you_  
 _Always be true_  
 _One plus one, two for life_  
 _Over and over again_

"If you don't stop shaking like a chihuahua, you're gonna fuck this whole thing up," Jace Wayland said wryly.

"Oh, thanks, Jace. Thank you," Simon Lewis babbled, narrowing his eyes. "That is just so helpful right now. So helpful." Jace regarded up, eyes running up and down the nervous man before shrugging and taking another sip of his beer, not all that bothered by the way his band mate was practically vibrating with nervous energy next to him.

"Are you guys ready to go on?" One of the workers for the bar came through the side door and raised her eyebrows. "You've got about two minutes."

"Yeah, we're good," Jace gave her an easy smile, one that oozed with confidence, the complete opposite of the boy next to him. When the girl nodded and ducked back out, Jace put down his bottle and stood up, straightening to his full height and slapping an arm down on Simon's shoulder. He squeezed, painfully hard, and Simon winced, jerking away and glaring at him.

"You trying to break my arm? That's how you're gonna make me feel better?!"

"Chill out," Jace snapped at him.

"Okay, that might be easy for you say, because you've already got the girl that you're madly in love with!" Simon snipped at him. "Not all of us are that lucky!" Jace pursed his lips together and let out a huff through his nose. Him and Simon weren't particularly...Close. They had sort of just been thrown together because they had a bunch of mutual friends. They didn't really argue, not in the way that Clarissa Fray and Alec Lightwood did, but they definitely didn't have a close bond like some of their other friends.

But Simon's best friend was Clary, and Jace loved Clary, so he put up with the scrawny nerd.

And he wouldn't admit it, but maybe he was starting to feel some level of affection toward him.

Kind of.

Which is why he was in this dingy little club that Simon and his band usually played at on a Friday night, rather than tangled up with Clary at home, or in a club that served actual alcohol, rather than the watered down beer that this place sold him. He had been to listen to Simon's band a couple of times, because Clary and Isabelle Lightwood had dragged him along, and he hadn't been overly impressed.

So he had been a little surprised when Simon had said that he wanted Jace's help. He had a song that he had been working on for quite some time and it was for someone special, and he wanted Jace to play the piano.

Three guesses as to who that special person was.

The whole group of them—Jace, Clary, Alec and Magnus Bane—knew how Simon and Isabelle felt about each other. Simon had clearly been head over heels for Isabelle since he had first met her, openly staring at her with his mouth hanging wide. Isabelle had taken a little longer to come around to the bespectacled boy, but the way she felt about him was clear, even if Simon wasn't able to pick up on it.

But he had decided to make a move.

Finally put it all out there.

And Jace, of all people, was going to be the one to help him do this.

"Look, kid," Jace said quietly, trying to sound sincere even though that wasn't really a default tone for him. "We've practiced this. It's going to be fine. You just gotta..." Jace let out a sigh as he cast another look over Simon. He pursed his lips and then raked his fingers through Simon's hair, trying to fluff it up a little, put some life in it. Then he unbuttoned the first couple of buttons for the shirt that Simon was wearing over a Star Wars tee-shirt, making him look a little more casual. "There," he nodded. "That looks a bit better. Just...Remember to breathe and don't puke all over the stage."

"Thanks," Simon grunted, sounding a little confused with Jace's 'niceness'. But then the golden haired boy just rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath as they were announced on stage. Simon lead the way out, blinking out into the bar, searching for his friends in the crowd of people. He found Clary's red hair first, and then right at her side was Isabelle, looking stunning in a tight, sequinned dress. "Hi, guys," Simon began into the microphone, his voice cracking a little halfway through, and Simon didn't need to be looking at Jace to know that he was making a face. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hi," he repeated. "So, this song is a little bit different from what I would usually sing. Usually it's my band, _Mortal Instruments_ , up here, but this time it's just me and my...Friend, Jace," he waved a hand behind him, where Jace was sitting at the piano. There were scattered claps and a 'whoop' in the crowd, probably from their friends. "Anyway, this song is for someone special..." he swallowed hard and forced himself to look directly at the raven haired girl. "Isabelle, I hope you like it."

There we go.

He had said it.

And there was no backing out, because suddenly Jace's fingers were skimming lightly over the ivory keys of the piano, and the song was beginning. Simon had to close his eyes for a moment to center himself, his fingers clutching tightly at the microphone in front of him as he tried desperately to remember the lyrics to the song that he had been perfecting for weeks, and had been practicing with Jace routinely. For one panicked moment, he thought that it was all gone, but then his cue came from Jace, and the words fell from his lips.

" _From the way you smile, to the way you look at me_ ," Simon knew his voice wasn't sounding it's best right now, due to his nerves, but the instant he found Isabelle in the crowd, it was like they drained right out of him. " _You capture me, unlike no other_." Her lips, painted bright red, were curved upward in a small, genuine smile, and her eyes were locked on his, glowing happily even in the darkened club. " _From the first hello, yeah, that's all it took._.."

Simon didn't really remember the rest of the song.

All he knew was the way that Isabelle was looking at him.

Her gaze unwavering.

Her mouth still smiling.

" _Cause I'll love you. Over and over again_ ," Simon sang out the last few lines, Jace's piano music soft and sweet behind him. " _Over and over again...Over and over again._ " As he faded out, Isabelle's smile widened, and she lifted herself so that she was kneeling on the barstool she had been sitting on. Despite the clapping and cheering from the crowd, Simon's only focus was on her, as she traced the shape of a love heart on her chest and then mouthed the words,

"I love you too."

 _So? You guys like it? Let me know, a couple of words make all the difference to someone who's been slaving over a keyboard *puppy dog eyes*._

 _OMG—I went and saw Ellie Goulding in concert last weekend. It's the second time I've seen her live, and she was still just as amazing! My recommended song this week is_ Silhouette _by Aquilo. It's absolutely gorgeous. And then this weekend I'm going to see_ Deepwater Horizon _! It's had great reviews, so I'm pretty excited, plus I get to see Dylan O'Brien on the big screen, which is always a massive plus. I'll undoubtedly be doing a happy dance on my way to the cinema. Haha._

 _Also, in my profile I've put up a list of the new stories that I'm working on and a brief description about them. Check it out and let me know what you guys think :) Always happy to discuss them :) xx_


	16. P : Pillow Talk

_This one isn't my best...I'm sorry. I hope you still enjoy it._

 **P : _Pillow Talk_ \- Zayn  
Requested by _sweetmahogany_**

 _So we'll piss off the neighbors  
_ _In the place that feels the tears  
_ _The place to lose your fears  
_ _Yeah, reckless behavior  
_ _A place that is so pure, so dirty and raw  
_ _Be in the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day  
_ _Fucking in, fighting on  
_ _It's our paradise and it's our war zone  
_ _It's our paradise and it's our war zone_

For five years, Jace Wayland lived without his best friend, Clarissa Fray.

She had a mess of a childhood, and after her father was convicted of killing her mother, she had moved in with Jace and his family for the last year of their schooling before she took off to travel the world. Jace had tried to talk her out of it to begin with, saying that a young girl travelling by herself was a bad idea. But Clary was determined, and when she set her mind to something, she followed through with it.

She had always had a reserved and shy personality, and an abusive father as she was growing up only proved to make her more withdrawn. She was stubborn, though, and she had a quick, sharp wit that Jace was pretty sure only he had seen, because she was too scared to talk back to anyone else. He loved it when she let herself get fired up, her green eyes would come to life and spark, and she looked gorgeous. She was also so smart, and talented with her art, but she would shrink in on herself, never wanting to show case her abilities.

She had Jace and she had Jace's mother and father, who loved her like their own, and she had Simon Lewis, a scrawny nerd that Jace only really put up with because of Clary, but she still didn't feel as though she had properly found herself. Jace tried to make things better from her, right from the beginning when they had first met, when they were eleven. When she would come to school with bruises on her arms and her shoulders and other students would ask her questions, some of them being downright cruel like children were, Jace tried to make her feel better. He fell in love with her quickly, but he didn't make his move, because he didn't want her to ever feel as though she owed him something. It wasn't until the night before she left that that he went to her bedroom and hesitantly knocked on her door, and they ended up tangled in her sheets, panting and smiling shyly at each other.

A big part of her leaving was because she needed to get away from her home city, learn to be independent, find herself, explore the world. The other part that she didn't really speak of was that she needed to put space between herself and the city where her mother was killed, fill her mind with better memories.

So at eighteen, she used the small amount of money that she had managed to save, and she boarded a plane to Spain. Jace put on a brave face, saying that he would miss her, but that he was proud of her. However after she left, he locked himself in his room for almost two weeks straight, lethargic and grumpy, not wanting to talk to anyone.

They stayed in touch, at times better than others.

Sometimes months would go by and he wouldn't hear from her. She was in Malawi for almost five months at one stage, helping as an Aid Worker, and only messaged him once she had moved on from there.

He threw himself into school, and Alec and Isabelle Lightwood pulled him back into the social scene when they felt as though he was getting too lost in himself.

After he finished his degree, he got a job in a good law firm.

There were girlfriends along the way, but nothing too serious.

He kept telling himself that he wasn't waiting for Clary to come back, because from what he heard from her, there was a chance that wasn't going to be any time soon. Maybe ever.

But he was pretty sure the only person who was sort of believing that was himself.

Everyone else knew he was waiting for Clary.

Now she was back.

Clary had messaged him on Facebook, saying that she was coming back, and asking if she could stay with him for a bit, while she got back on her feet. Jace had barely been able to contain his shout of glee, because he was sitting in his office at work, and he would undoubtedly get a bunch of judging looks.

It had been five years, and she was finally coming home.

Jace didn't ask why, and he didn't ask for how long, he just said yes, that she was welcome to stay for as long as she needed. It took a few weeks to work out the kinks, because Clary was still taking a long time to reply to messages, but she eventually got back to him about the time and date for a flight that she had booked. Jace was practically vibrating with excitement as the weeks went by, cleaning his apartment over and over and over again, even though he knew that he was the one who liked the cleanliness, while Clary preferred the mess.

Jace wasn't embarrassed by the fact that he got teared up when he saw Clary for the first time.

And she most definitely cried as well.

When they had seen each other in the airport, Clary had dropped her bag and had sprinted toward him, her petite body easily dodging around other people before she launched herself at Jace, her legs wrapping around his waist and her arms thrown around his neck. Jace held her tightly, and he never wanted to let her go. She felt a bit different, her body was a little more angular, her hair was shorter and a little bleached from the sun, but she still smelt exactly the same.

It didn't take long for them to fall into bed together.

Jace was worried after the first time, three days after she had gotten back into the city, because the minute he had seen her in the airport, he had known that he had been completely full of bullshit.

He was in love with Clary.

He had always been in love with Clary.

And if he lost her again, after he finally had her back, he wasn't sure he wasn't going to recover.

But, despite their years apart, Clary still knew him well. She picked up on his worries easily, and a few weeks after she had gotten home, when they were laying in his bed, she had softly told him that she was back for good. She wasn't leaving again. She was home.

So they started to re-learn each others movements, getting to know each other again.

A lot of that was physical.

Clary seemed to make it her personal mission to find out how long she could torture Jace with her tongue curled around his cock before he lost all control and grabbed her hair, pulling her off her knees and pushing her backwards onto the bed and burying himself in her.

Jace had promised himself that if he ever got another chance with Clary, he would learn every inch of her skin with his mouth, and so he spent hours worshiping her delicate body, her spine arching and she let out sighs, moans and whines.

Jace used to like the long hours that his job required, because it was his way of burying himself. But now that he had Clary had to come home to, the longer the hours at the work, the worse for him. She went out a found a job, assisting as an art teacher at a local community college, but she was still always home before him. Sometimes she would be cooking when he got home, sometimes she would be painting in his office that she had sort of taken over as her own, or sometimes she was naked and would drop to her knees in front of him when he opened the door, jerking at his belt and swallowing her to the back of her throat.

That spark in her eyes, the fight and fire that she would always try to temper down when she was younger because she was scared, she positively exuded now. She had no problems calling Jace out on his bullshit, and the arguments they had were loud enough that the neighbors would bang on the apartment walls and shout at them to quiet down.

Of course the making up side of the arguments also had the neighbors waking up in the middle of the night and shouting at them to quiet down as well, as Jace slammed Clary up against a wall and drove into her over and over again, the red head moaning out his name as he bit down into her neck.

The first time he had lost his temper with her felt as though it was everything that had been building inside of Jace since she had first gotten onto the airplane five years ago, and he was worried that he was going to loose her, having no idea how she was going to react. Even though when they were younger there had been some petty arguments, it had hardly ever escalated because Clary was always so frail and shaky and Jace had never wanted her to be scared of him, the way she was of her father. Sometimes he could tell that she wanted to argue a point with him further, but she would chew down on her bottom lip and restrain herself.

There was none of that now.

And he loved it.

Even though it frustrated him no end, and she had a very special way of getting under his skin, he still loved it.

Because it was his Clary finally not scared to show herself.

It was a few weeks after she had come back. She was standing on his kitchen bench, looking in the shelves of his kitchen cupboards, cleaning them out, with a bunch of old, mismatched dishes pulled out and sitting on the bench. She joked around that they should have a look at getting some plates and bowls that actually matched, and Jace had felt something just snap inside him. He had shouted at her, asking what was the point in buying new things if she was just going to leave when she got bored, and disappear on her next adventure. What was the point in playing house with her, and falling for her if she was going to be flying away from him all over again. What was the point. He had screamed at her with everything he had, and there was a hurt look on her face.

She had murmured that she had thought he understood why she had left, why she had to leave.

Jace had kind of felt like an asshole, but he was still upset, and so he had kept on yelling, until the hurt look on her face had disappeared and she had narrowed her eyes at him. She stormed over to him and jumped onto his torso, wrapping her arms around his neck and smacking her lips together against his and cutting off his sentence. He managed to resist her for about all of ten seconds before he was kissing her back, furiously tearing at her clothes as they stumbled toward the couch and she rode him until they were both panting and sweating.

That was when she had told him that she wasn't going anywhere.

She was home.

And so they had found their way together. That was when Clary had found a job, Jace tried to cut down his hours a little at work so that he wasn't always home late into the night. Clary cooked a lot of the time, making dishes that she had learnt while she was overseas, and Jace introduced Clary to his friends, wanting to show off the girl that he had been pining over for the past few years. Their arguments were generally about nothing, just tempers and personalities clashing, and it kept things interesting.

But despite the passionate fights, the intense loving, the comfortable dinners with friends, and the lazy Friday nights in, it was the talks in the middle of the night that Jace loved the most. Most nights he and Clary would have sex before they went to sleep, and afterwards, in the post-coital haze, they both just dozed off, but then there were the nights when they would turn off the lights and climb into bed together and just talk.

For hours on end.

Clary would tell him about her adventures, which Jace still maybe felt a little resentful about, but mainly just loved, because those adventures had brought her back to him, and they had brought her back as a much more confident and happy woman. Jace would talk about his work, about his clients, and a lot about Alec and Isabelle.

Clary's leg was thrown over his hip and a hand on his stomach, tracing her fingers in the dips and valleys of his abdominals, and his arm would be tucked her neck, carding his fingers through her thick hair and massaging the base of her neck. Their heads would be resting on the pillows, staring at each other, and Jace loved it when he would make her laugh, making her roll over slightly onto her back and her shoulders would shake and giggle toward the ceiling.

Even when she was right there, sharing his pillows and sheets, with her skin smooth and warm under his fingertips, he found it hard to believe that she was finally back.

But she said it to him over and over again, her face buried in his neck, as though to remind him.

She was home.

 _I wanted to say a big thank you to all you beautiful reviewers. Seriously. I love writing, and the support I get from you guys encourages that love. You're the reason I write so much and so often, and am willing to try new ideas and things like that, so a massive thank you to all you guys :)_

 _Also, I wanted to say that I've loved the support your guys have had toward my new stories. If you haven't already had a look at the short synopsis, they are up on my profile. Your feedback in reviews and in the private messages have been awesome, it's great to talk about them with you guys! If you guys have any requests or anything specific you guys want to see, let me know, and I'll see if it's something that I can work in._

 _Now! Guess what? I've been married two years. What. The Fuck? I feel way to young for that. LOL. But yeah, it's our anniversary next week. So that's pretty awesome :)_

 _Other awesome things are; the TV show_ Designated Survivor _. I've been in love with Keifer Sutherland since_ 24 _, and Maggie Q is in it, and she's fucking badass, although maybe not quite as badass as in_ Nikita _. The song_ I Hate You, I Love You _by Gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien. OMG. I'm addicted. And I've been blasting the cover of_ Lean On _by Openside every time I'm in my car. I heard it live and had to download it as soon as I got home. It is FUCKING AMAZING, as you would know if we're friends on snapchat because I've sent out several of me singing along. Hahahaha._

 _As usual, leave a review, let me know what you think, recommend songs or TV shows or other fics for me to check out. A couple of nice words will go a long way with the shitty week I've had :( xx_


	17. Q : Quiet

_The next chapter!_

 **Q : _Quiet_ \- Jason Mraz  
Requested by _Julmclay_**

 _Every once in a while, you know I get these real bad headaches  
_ _Worried about the mistakes that I've made along the way  
_ _You and I, we can't hide from the fact that we need each other  
_ _How else will I recover when the fever comes again_

 _Temperatures rise, temperatures fall  
_ _Will you be my constant through it all?  
_ _I will hold your hand and watch the world spin madly around this life we're in  
_ _Oh yeah everything goes quiet when it's you I'm with  
_ _Oh yeah everything goes quiet when it's you I'm with  
_ _You, you, you.._

It was a little girl.

She couldn't be much older than four or five.

Jace Herondale had tried his hardest, but he hadn't been quick enough.

He was always the fastest, the strongest, the smartest.

But not this time.

They had been fighting, and they had been winning.

But they had been blindsided when a mundane was pulled into it from her hiding place behind a rubbish bin. She hadn't been able to see the fight, but she had heard all the noise, and let out a squeak.

The demon had buried it's claws into her chest and thrown her crumpled body toward Isabelle Lightwood as a distraction, and it had worked, because Isabelle had lunged for her, and so had Clarissa Fray. Three of the demons escaped then, given the four of them were half a team down with the two girls on the ground with the little girl. Alec Lightwood was firing off hours and managed to down two of them, and Jace drove his seraph deep into the chest cavity of the demon who had attacked the little girl. The fourth had gotten away, and usually they would follow after it, but Isabelle was speaking rapidly into her phone, alerting the medics back at the Institute that they were bringing a mundane back who needed to be looked after.

They got the girl back to the Institute and she barely had a pulse, Alec kept chewing down nervously on his lower lip as Isabelle pressed her fingers underneath the girls jaw every couple of minutes and feeling the slight flutter. Clary's green eyes were wide but she was somehow keeping her head level as told the medics at the Institute what had happened and they had rushed her away.

This place was incredibly equipped, and it was the best place to try and heal the mundane, but they were still used to healing with their steeles and runes rather than with more normal methods.

Even though they were all exhausted, the four demons they had been fighting when the girl had come into the mix had been the tail end of their day, Jace refused to go upstairs to their rooms and shower and get changed. He went into the training rooms, the one right at the end of the hallway so that he was tucked away from the rest of the Institute and all alone. He stripped out of his shirt, which was ripped from the fight and then started attacking the punching bag in the corner of the room.

She was a little girl.

She was innocent.

She had nothing to do with their fight.

He was just too slow.

Logically at the back of his head, he knew that this wasn't all on him. They were a team. But he was the leader of the team, and if anyone got hurt along the way, then that fell on his shoulders.

"Jace," there was a soft but commanding voice from the doorway, and it made Jace freeze what he was doing. The punching bag swung and bumped against his solid torso and he let out a short breath through his teeth. "Jace, that girl is going to be okay." Clary came into the room, walking determinedly toward her fiancée, her eyes narrow. "She's in the best possible place to be looked after."

"That's not the point," Jace grunted, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. "She should never have gotten hurt in the first place."

"It happens," Clary's voice was carefully even as she walked over to him. She hadn't showered or changed either, and so she was still wearing her tight pants and long sleeved shirt from the day, her hair falling out of the tight ponytail it had been in at the beginning of the day. "It fucking sucks, but it happens." Jace didn't like her answer, even though he knew she was true. "The doctors are still working on her, but they've stopped the bleeding and they're giving her a transfusion. She's going to be okay." Jace pursed his lips together and then threw another punch at the bag in front of him.

He heard Clary's footsteps fade as she left him alone.

She knew that sometimes he just needed to be left alone, and she respected that.

Jace wasn't even sure what time it was by the time he collapsed on the mats in the center of the room and stared up at the ceiling. His arms and legs felt like like lead, and he hadn't bothered putting on gloves when he started attacking the punching bag, so his knuckles were cracked and bleeding. They would heal quickly once he traced his steele over his healing rune, but for now there was some kind of satisfaction in feeling the pain.

He felt like he deserved it.

After a few minutes spent catching his breath, he got up from his place on the ground and started back down the hallway.

He couldn't help but go into the infirmary area where their medics were working on the little girl. She looked even smaller on the table laid out in the middle, Lydia Branwell working on her with the help of a few others. Lydia saw him watching from the doorway and she said something to the nurse at her side before coming over to him.

"Usually Simon is the only mundane that we need to deal with here," she attempted a joke but Jace wasn't amused. Lydia had a pair of latex gloves on, and they were sticky with blood, so she didn't reach out to squeeze his shoulder, but she gave him a smile of comfort instead. "She's going to be okay. Her parents have already lodged a report with the police, so returning her is going to be a little bit harder, but we will take her into the hospital, forge some kind of report in their system." Jace jerked his head in a nod and then turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. "It was no one's fault except for the demons, Jace!" Lydia shouted after him, but he ignore her, continuing toward the elevators.

The girl was going to be okay.

But no matter how good they were at the Institute—they were going to make her memories disappear, they were going to make her scars disappear, they were going to make her forget all of this ever happened to her—Jace wasn't going to forget.

Most of the time, he was good at pushing all of these feelings away. He was the leader, and he needed to put the rest of the team before himself. That was easy, given he loved Isabelle, Alec and Clary, and they all had each others backs, but there were times like this when it got on top of him. His shoulders felt as though he was carrying the weight of the world, and there was an ache at the back of his head, and he just wished that things like this didn't happen.

Of course, things like this did happen.

That was the world he was apart of.

And usually he wouldn't change that for anything else, because he loved his life.

Jace let out another sigh through clenched teeth as she reached the third floor and stepped into the hall. It was quiet, and he caught a glimpse of the time from the clock on the wall, seeing that it was just after one in the morning. That might be the middle of a Wednesday night for the rest of New York, but Jace didn't mistake the quiet for inactivity. Other shadowhunters who lived on this floor would be out on missions, or they would be down on the main floor looking through case files, or they would be in their bedrooms, revising or training. Very few would actually be resting and recuperating. Jace couldn't remember the last time that he had slept for longer than five hours in a night, and even then, five hours was a stretch a lot of the time.

Jace went into his room and slowly stripped out of the rest of his clothes, dumping them into the basket in the corner of the room. He walked slowly into the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror, at the scrapes and bruises and grazes on his cheek and torso and then all the cracks and blood on his knuckles from where he had been attacking the punching bag. He swallowed hard before using his steele to go over his healing rune. He gritted his teeth at the familiar burn and then flexed his fingers once he was finished.

"Hurry up and shower," Clary appeared in the doorway behind him. "I want to go to bed." Jace shifted his gaze in the mirror to look at his fiancée, who had already showered and was wearing one of his shirts and a pair of flannel pyjama pants. Her face was scrubbed and her hair was in loose waves around her face. Jace nodded and turned on the shower, waiting for it to warm up before stepping inside.

He didn't take long, because when things were this shit, when he was feeling lost and out of control, he needed to be with her.

She was the one that made it better.

She was his safe place, and his quiet.

Jace changed into a pair of briefs and sweatpants and then turned off the light, climbing into the bed next to Clary. She instantly rolled her warm body over and threw a leg over his, hooking up near his waist and wrapping one arm around his waist. Her smell and her touch instantly surrounded Jace and made his body begin to relax, even if his head was still working at a mile a minute.

"The girl is going to be fine," Jace said, his voice low.

"I know," Clary murmured, her breath tickling just under his ear.

"If we didn't get back in time..."

"But we did," Clary's voice was calm, but her fingers curled slightly where they were pressed against his side. "We did, and that's what you need to remember."

"I just couldn't..." Jace trailed off, not sure where he was going to go with that sentence. "I don't think I could..." he swallowed hard, staring up at the ceiling. Clary was still for a moment before she was shifting next to him. She shuffled around so that she was straddling his waist, laying forward so that they were chest to chest, and her long hair was framing his face, and her lips were only a few inches from his.

"You're an incredible man," Clary began. "You're a strong leader and you're an amazing shadowhunter. What happened today couldn't be helped. And we can't let it get on top of us, or else we're no use to everyone else." Jace knew everything that she was saying was right, and everything she was saying was everything that he had been told a hundred times before when things had gone wrong out in the field by everyone else.

But when it came from Clary, he actually _believed_ her.

"I love you," Jace told her in response. Even in the darkness, Jace could feel her smile as she lowered her face and pressed their mouths together. She didn't say anything else as she rolled her hips against his, gentle and warm. Their sighs filled the room as her hands slipped between them, pushing down his pyjama pants, and then her own, before she shifted her position and sunk down until he was fully seated inside of her warmth. Their movements were slow and unhurried, and every couple of minutes, Clary would stop her rocking just so that she could focus on kissing him. Jace sucked her lower lip into his mouth, biting down softly before she tasted his tongue and moaned as he scratched his fingers up and down her smooth back.

After they had both orgasmed, Clary didn't move for a long time, still on top of Jace with her head buried in his neck. When she finally moved, she still clung to his side, and Jace wrapped one arm around her, kissing the side of her face.

"I love you," Jace repeated.

"I love you too," Clary breathed before she fell asleep.

 _My song recommendations for this time!_ Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic _the cover by Sleeping At Last,_ I Can't Even _by The Neighbourhood and_ In My Blood _by The Veronicas, which was recommended to me by Caaatttt. Ooh, also a couple of TV shows that I've started watching are_ Lucifer _and_ Blindspot _, which are both pretty good. And I finally got around to watching Straight Outta Compton! So glad I finally watched it. Hahaha._

 _Also, I've updated my profile again, since you guys seemed to like when I modified it last time. So check it out :)_

 _Leave a review, let me know what you think of the chapter and recommend any new songs to me :)_

 _As a complete side note...No matter who you voted for, there were going to be a lot of unhappy people, and I can see that there have already been protests through the night. Love is going out to everyone, as this is something that will affect us all xx_


	18. R : Riverside

_I found this one really hard to write, so I'm sorry if it's not as good as you were hoping :( This was a gorgeous song though, I loved it as soon as I listened to it after it was requested, but it was a difficult one to write about._ _This is the second to last update before I go on a short break over Christmas/New Years! Hope you enjoy it :)_

 **R : _Riverside_ \- Agnes Obel  
** **Requested by _JacePlaysBass_**

 _Down by the water the riverbed  
_ _Somebody calls you somebody says  
_ _Swim with the current and float away  
_ _Down by the river everyday  
_ _Oh my God I see how everything is torn in the river deep  
_ _And I don't know why I go the way  
_ _Down by the riverside_

She has always been the weird girl with the bright red hair and black clothes and who's mama had killed herself. She didn't really have any friends, other than her mousy next door neighbor who was obsessed with comic's and wore glasses, and a golden haired boy who lived a few towns over and rode a motorbike. Her daddy was the town drunk and her older brother had to drop out of school to try and support them, working hard at a minimum wage job at a timber yard. She barely ever talked, her head always buried in her sketch book or bobbing along to the music playing through her headphones.

Clarissa Morgenstern hated the town that she lived in.

She always had.

It was a poor place, with one or two well off families that looked down on the rest of them, and everyone talked ill of one another. Their words were all cruel and their gazes were harsh, and their favorite past time was finding out everything they could about each other so that they could use it to tear the other down.

It was because of this town and it's judgement that her mother hadn't been able to cope with her second miscarriage and had slit her wrists and stepped into the river, never to get out again.

It was because of this town and their whispers that her father hadn't been able to handle bringing up two children by himself, and had sunk into despair with his hand wrapped around the neck of a bottle.

It was because of this town and what it did to their parents that her brother had to give up his education and slave away, just so that they could keep the electricity going and meager food on their table.

She hated it.

Everything about it—other than Simon, of course.

As soon as she turned eighteen, Jace Wayland was going to take her far away from here. She wasn't sure what would happen to her father when she left, because she was the one that dragged him off the pub floor when she was called by the owner at closing time, saying that her father needed to be picked up. She made sure he didn't choke on his own puke when he passed out beside the toilet, and left glasses of water beside his bed. She knew that Jonathon Morgenstern was going to be okay. The main reason he struggled so much was because of her, he had given up on their father a long time ago. She had told him that she was going to leave, and he told her to go, to escape. He had told her that as soon as she was safe and looked after, then he was going to leave as well, make a home for himself elsewhere.

Once she was eighteen, she was leaving.

And until then...

Until then, she just had to survive.

There was only one place in this whole god forsaken town that she felt as though she could actually breathe, that she could actually feel her heart slow down to a steady, calm beat in her chest, was by the riverside.

She knew that was one of the things that people said about her.

They were waiting for her to snap, just like her mother.

They thought she was going to walk into the water, and let the current rip her away, carry her down stream.

They didn't understand that this was always the place that her mama had loved most in the world, the rushing water and the fresh smell, and that was why she had chosen for her last moments to be there.

They thought that because she didn't talk to them, because she didn't join in their malicious gossip, because she wore black, because she didn't like being around people—they thought because of all of this that there was something wrong with her. And they thought that because she went down to the river, the river that had taken so many lives of people who lived in their town, that she was going to join that number of people.

The river was dangerous, people said. And they were right. It was the fastest moving thing in this town, ever changing, ripping through the forestry around it, tearing over the rocks that were jutting out, that were sometimes hidden just beneath the surface after a heavy rainfall. Hardly anyone ever came down to the river through the day, because everything around it was damp and muddy, and there were signs everywhere saying that it wasn't safe. But sometimes, there were drunk teenagers who came down here, who thought it was a fun idea, or overwhelmed adults, who didn't see any other way out...And several days later, there were reports of their bodies being found downstream.

Clary never touched the water.

She wasn't stupid.

She wasn't there because _she_ had nothing left.

She had Jace.

She had Jonathon, and Simon.

She had hope.

And she had this river to keep her mind quiet.

 _As I was going through and editing these chapters, I was watching_ Princess Bride _with my hubby. Omg. Absolutely love that movie. Don't think I'll ever get sick of it. It's just so fucking amazing! Will always be in my top five movies :) I pretty much quote every line as the movie plays. Whoops. Hahahaha. My song rec's for this time are_ On Your Side _by The Veronicas and_ Time After Time _the cover by Jessica Mauboy._

 _Leave a review, let me know what you guys think :)_


	19. S : Stitches

_This is my last update of the year! I just wanted to say a massive thank you to all of your support you guys have shown me and reviews that you have left. I'll be back around February next year, but until then, I'm still able to be reached through here if you send me a PM, or if you wanted to add me on Facebook or Snapchat :) Also, make sure you check out the authors note at the bottom in regards to my upcoming stories._

 **S : _Stitches_ \- Shawn Mendes (Used Nicole Cross cover as inspiration)  
Requested by ****_PJO. HOO. TMI_**

 _Got a feeling that I'm going under  
_ _But I know that I'll make it out alive  
_ _If I quit calling you my lover  
_ _Move on_

 _You watch me bleed until I can't breathe  
_ _Shaking, falling onto my knees  
_ _And now that I'm without your kisses  
_ _I'll be needing stitches  
_ _Tripping over myself  
_ _Aching, begging you to come help  
_ _And now that I'm without your kisses  
_ _I'll be needing stitches_

Clarissa Morgenstern swallowed hard as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her cheeks were gaunt and her skin was pale, making her freckles stand out more than they would have a year ago. Her eyes were a dull green colour and her lips were chapped, a little raw in places from where she had been chewing down on them, a nervous habit that she had kicked when she was a teenager, and had taken up again about six months ago. Her hair fell, stringy and greasy, around her face and there was a scar—barely noticeable now—that ran along her forehead, partially hidden by her hairline.

But even though she didn't look as healthy and happy as she had a year ago, she was still looking better than she had just a few months ago.

And that was an improvement.

"Clary," Jace Herondale's voice was soft in the doorway behind her, but she still couldn't help jumping a little. He didn't comment on it, although his eyes were worried. "Are you almost finished in here? I want to take a shower."

"Yeah," Clary attempted to flash him a smile as she ducked her head and shuffled past him, trying to make her body smaller as she passed him in the doorway so that they didn't touch. Jace once again didn't comment, him and Jonathon Morgenstern had been very careful about not saying anything about the way she moved around them and others, but he couldn't help but watch as she walked back down the hallway. Clary knew that Jace was watching her go, but she didn't turn around and look back at him, disappearing into the spare bedroom that was now hers and shutting the door behind her.

She had known Jace since she was eight, since he and her brother became close friends. She had actually had a crush on him for most of high school, until she was about seventeen and she had properly started dating other people. There had been one night, at a party, when Jace had gotten really drunk, and told her that if she wasn't his best friends little sister, he would have asked her out a long time ago. Clary had wanted to protest, to argue, say that they could make it work, but she hadn't, and they had never spoken about it again.

And then life had happened, she had flown halfway across the world to go to one of the best art schools around. She had only returned two years ago, when she was twenty-three, and given everyone's busy work schedules, they really hadn't had too much to do with each other.

Now here she was, living with him and her brother.

It wasn't where she thought she would be at twenty-five.

Unemployed, scared to go out in public, hating her own reflection, jumping at loud noises, distrustful of pretty much everyone.

Sebastian Verlac had been a gentleman when they had first met. He had been funny and sweet and attentive when she gushed about her art. He would come and see her when she was working at the art gallery in the middle of the city, and bring her coffee and her favorite lemon muffins. The lease on her apartment was up three months after they started dating, and she hadn't wanted to say anything to him to pressure him into the idea of the pair of them moving in together, but he was the one that suggested it.

Things changed about six months in.

He was restructured out of his job, and he had an argument with his father about borrowing some money. Clary had only met his father a couple of times, but it was clear that the pair of them didn't get on. Whatever had happened during the fight this time had resulted in Sebastian going on a three day drinking binge, and on the third day, he had hit Clary for the first time, right across her mouth, loosening one of her teeth.

Looking back on it now, Clary couldn't believe she hadn't left him right then.

She had always been strong, and independent, and headstrong, and yet she had let herself get beaten down by a man who clearly didn't love her.

But she had been so lost in her head, so caught up in Sebastian, that she hadn't seen what he had turned her into. She stopped going out with her friends, she lathered on make up to disguise the bruises on her face and wore long sleeved dresses to cover up the scratches on her legs. Her sense of humor disappeared and she became withdrawn. Jonathon had been worried, and tried to talking to her, but he hadn't realized how bad it was until one night he had come home, and she was curled up on his and Jace's doorstep, both eyes swollen shut and her face covered in blood.

Jace and Jonathon had been ready to kill Sebastian.

They would have, if they hadn't needed to rush her to hospital.

Clary didn't talk to them for a few days; she had stayed curled up in the hospital bed that made her look tiny and pale, shivering and mumbling under her breath as she fell in and out of medicated sleep.

It was now a few months later.

Clary was getting better.

She knew that she was, even though she was nowhere close to being back to her previous self. Maybe her hair wasn't as bouncy and vibrant as it had been before she met Sebastian, and maybe her skin was a little more pale, but she was here and she was standing on her own two feet, and outside the door for her bedroom were two good men who loved her. Clary took in a deep breath, raking her fingers through her hair to try and tame the curls before pulling it back into a ponytail. She jerked on one of Jace's hoodies, letting it swamp her small frame and took in a deep breath.

The boys had paid Sebastian a visit the week after she had gotten out of the hospital. They had gathered her things and had a little 'chat' about how if he was ever in the same zip code as her again, then they would break both of his legs, followed by both his arms.

But even though they had brought her her clothes, she had still found herself more comfortable in just leggings and one of Jace's or Jonathon's sweatshirts. It was something about their smell, and the well-worn fabric that made her feel comfortable and safe. She could hear Jonathon singing out in the kitchen—completely out of tune, just like always—and she couldn't stop a smile from pulling at the corners of her mouth. She must have been standing and thinking in the middle of her bedroom for longer than she thought, because then she could hear Jace shouting at Jonathon to stop fucking squealing, so he must have gotten out of the shower. There's some laughing and talking from the kitchen, and Clary feels a pull in her chest to go out and join the two boys.

They grin at her as she comes into the kitchen, Jonathon sticking out his tongue just like he had since they were kids, and Jace tossed a piece of sliced carrot in her direction. Clary caught it and put it between her thin lips, giving them a small smile before leaning against the fridge, making sure there was a good distance between them.

"Chicken stir fry sound good?" Jonathon asked Clary, although it's not like he was going to stop halfway through the dinner he had already started preparing.

"Sounds great," Clary said, her voice basically no louder than a rasp. She had only spoken a few words a day since she had moved in with them. The pair of boys had always joked around that they could never get her to shut up when they were teenagers, except now they would be more than happy to hear drone on about the mating sessions of ants, as long as it meant that she was talking. They didn't push her though, the therapist that they were taking her to had said to let her take things at her own pace, to just keep acting normal around her.

And she was so grateful to them.

"We want to watch _The Office_ , right?" Jace wiggled his eyebrows over at Clary, who pursed her lips together in a smile. They had just brought the entire series on box set a week ago.

"Fuck yeah," Jonathon grinned. Dinner was finished soon, and Clary helped to dish it up, and then the three of them walked into the lounge. They sat on the long couch, Clary in the middle with Jace and Jonathon on either side of her. They weren't touching her, making sure to keep her space, and she couldn't help but feel the knot that was a constant in her lower stomach relax a little.

After dinner, Jace cleared the dishes, and then when he came back, he sat a little closer to her on the couch. He put his arm along the back of the couch, his fingers near her shoulder, his fingertips touching her ever so slightly. She didn't flinch away, not like she would have before.

She wasn't healed yet.

Maybe she wouldn't be for a long time.

But she was getting better.

 _Now, something that I wanted to ask everyone, is if you can all check out the upcoming stories on my profile, and let me know what your top three picks would be? Just so I have an idea of the ones that people are looking forward to and can focus on those :)_

 _The things that I'm into at the moment are Charles/Erik from_ X-Men _, the reboot trilogy, with Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Holy shit. So beautiful. Completely obsessed. And then it's like I've become re-obsessed with Derek/Stiles from_ Teen Wolf. _The songs I've had on replay are_ Can't Fight This Feeling _by Justin Timberlake, which I know has been completely overplayed, but it's just such a happy song, I'm totally in love! And the second one is_ Last Night On Earth _by Delta Goodrem, which is just so sweet. And the last one is_ Give It Up To Me _by Sean Paul and Keyshia Cole, an old one._

 _Right! So, I'll be back next year, pretties :) Until then, one last review? Pretty please?_

 _Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all :) xxx_


	20. T : True Love

_Okay! So I'm back! And I'm back early, you may notice! I was planning to update until next week but I've had so many reviews and messages on here and on Facebook asking for me to post earlier, so here we go! Uh, I've also had a lot of people asking why I decided to take a break for a while—almost two months! Holy shit! I'll keep it brief so you can get on with reading...1) Life! Real life always comes first and it's been super busy. 2) Health. This definitely comes into the 'real life' category, but something that some of you will know is I deal with some insane headaches and migraines on an almost weekly basis and at times work is draining enough, I can't come home and sit in front of my computer and type/edit. 3) Response. So many of you guys are incredible. FUCKING INCREDIBLE. But that doesn't discount the occasional nasty review or message which really hits home when I spend so much time pouring my heart into these stories :(_

 _Anyway, on with the story!_

 **T : _True Love_ \- P!nk **  
**Requested by _FrenchBenzo_**

 _Sometimes I hate every single stupid word you say  
_ _Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face  
_ _There's no one quite like you  
_ _You push all my buttons down  
_ _I know life would suck without you_

 _At the same time, I wanna hug you  
_ _I wanna wrap my hands around your neck  
_ _You're an asshole but I love you  
_ _And you make me so mad I ask myself  
_ _Why I'm still here, or where could I go  
_ _You're the only love I've ever known  
_ _But I hate you, I really hate you,  
_ _So much, I think it must be_

 _True love, true love  
_ _It must be true love  
_ _Nothing else can break my heart like  
_ _True love, true love,  
_ _It must be true love  
_ _No one else can break my heart like you_

It was sometime early in the morning, and Clarissa Fray cracked open an eye, feeling her whole body tense as she heard scraping at the door of the apartment. Then there was the sound of a key sliding into the lock, before the door banged open, and she let out a growl under her breath as she heard Jace Waylands muffled voice. He was laughing and talking to someone, both of them clearly trying to keep their voices down, but neither of them succeeding. And then there was a crash, and her eyes flashed open wide. She groped for her phone and tapped the button on the sided, squinting at the time and then groaning again when she saw it was just after two thirty.

She had to be up and on her way to work in exactly two hours and twenty six minutes.

And now she was wide awake.

Clary sighed as she pushed her blankets off her and fumbled around for a shirt to throw on over her naked torso, before making her way down the hall. She reached the kitchen and glared inside, where a very drunk Jace and Alec Lightwood were spooning ice cream straight out of the container, a smashed bowl on the ground beside their feet. They took a while to notice her, before raising their eyes guiltily, Alec sending a worried, puppy dog look across at his blonde best friend.

"It's after two o'clock," Clary stated. Jace cringed, biting down on his lower lip before replying.

"We're sorry?" He attempted with a cringe.

"If you both don't shut the fuck up and go to sleep, you will be sorry," Clary growled at them. "Guest room for you, Alec, and _you_ , Jace," she swung her eyes over to her boyfriend. "You're on the fucking couch." With that, she stomped back down to her room, purposefully slamming the door behind her, not caring that both boys were now hanging their heads dejectedly.

* * *

Clary worked as a patisserie chef at a small but successful bakery a couple of blocks away from the apartment building that she and Jace rented together. She loved what she did, and she was completely used to the early mornings by this stage. In fact, she liked it. She was up and at work by five thirty at the latest, starting on the fresh bread and sandwiches and desserts that they sold, and then she was off home by two in the afternoon, while most of the city was only just past half way through their day. It gave her time to do things around the house and get dinner ready before Jace got home, and then they could both just relax.

But it was days like this that she really hated it.

After she had gone back to bed, she hadn't been able to get to sleep.

Especially when half an hour after she had gone back to their bedroom, she heard one of the boys puking their guts up in the toilet, and then the other drunk male trying to clean up after him, even though they were both as terrible as each other.

Because she was missing out on just those few extra hours of sleep, it made the day drag on, and she screwed up more than one of her dishes for the day. By the time she was taking the stairs up to the sixth floor, because the elevator was broken for the umpteenth time, and unlocking the front door, she was in a terrible mood.

"Fucking Jace," she hissed under her breath as she kicked off her shoes into the corner. "Fucking Alec. Fucking 'oh no, we're only going out for a couple of beers. I'll be home by ten'." Her eyes were narrow as she dropped her bag onto the floor and then stormed through the main entrance way and into the kitchen, planning on going straight for the fridge to grab out a bottle of beer. She was about to walk straight past the kitchen table, but then paused, her eyebrows knitting together as she took in the spread.

A large bouquet of roses, a bottle of her favourite wine and chocolates. There was a card next to the gifts and she opened it up.

 _I'm sorry we woke you up. We got carried away at the club last night, and played way too much pool. I love you, Jace._

 _PS - Alec says that he loves you too, please don't hate him, because he lives for your raspberry cheesecake._

Clary couldn't help but feel her frustration ebb away, and a small smile pull at the corner of her lips.

* * *

Jace and Clary had been living together for almost two years now. They had first started dating when she was in culinary school and he was halfway through his accounting degree. They were a bit of an odd match, but their mutual friend, Isabelle Lightwood, had thought that they would be good together, and as per usual, she was right. They had got off to a bit of a bumpy start, Jace had been drunk and kept calling her by the wrong name, and then after all of that, he seemed to think that they would still be going home together. She had responded by slapping him across the face when he had gone in for a kiss, and it had been almost two months before they saw each other again.

The next time around, it went a little better, although Clary still refused to go home with him, even though he had gotten her name right. The fact that she wasn't rolling over and wasn't so easy for him to get had fascinated him, and he had pursued her until she had finally relented and gone out on a date with him.

And now they were three years into a loving but some times very hot-headed relationship, which was to be expected from two people as stubborn and passionate as both of them.

"Jace! Tell me you picked up my dress and your suit jacket from the dry cleaners!" Clary called out from the bedroom, standing in front of their wardrobe wearing only a thong and a strapless bra. The silence coming from the lounge, apart from the pinging and music from the play station game her boyfriend was playing, was answer enough. Clary let out a heaving sigh and stalked out to the lounge. "Jace! You knew that you needed to pick that up!"

"I'm sorry!" Jace's eyes widened. "I totally forgot!"

"I knew you would forget it," she growled, crossing her arms over her chest. Jace narrowed his eyes and threw his play station controller to the side.

"Well, if you knew I would forget, then why didn't you remind me?!" He shot back at her.

"Because I shouldn't have to remind you! You're a bloody adult, Jace! I'm not your mother! I asked you to do something—you should have done it! Now I have nothing to wear to Isabelle's show tonight!"

"What are you on about? You have, like, a hundred dresses you could wear tonight!" Jace protested.

"I wanted to wear _that_ dress, and that's why I took it to the dry cleaners! And what about your suit jacket? You don't have another one of those!"

"I just won't wear a jacket," Jace shrugged not looking too bothered. "I'll just wear my pants and a shirt. Everyone pretty much takes their jackets off through the night anyway." Clary knew he was right, but it was the principle of the thing. She locked her jaw as she glared down at him, and he glared right back at her. Finally, she let out a huff and stormed back to the bedroom.

Isabelle had a fashion show tonight, and while she had been in more than any of her friends or family could count, this was the first one that she was headlining, and she had gotten them all front row seat tickets. Clary had brought a brand new dress, a gold, sequinned one that clung to her slim body with slits up the side and showed naughty peeks at her toned legs. And now that expense on her credit card was gone to waste, and she was wearing a navy dress she had owned for a while. Even without his jacket, Jace still cleaned up well, brushing his shaggy hair, tucking his shirt in, and fastening on a pair of cuff links that Magnus Bane had brought him a few months ago.

The drive to the show was met with tense silence, Jace giving her looks every couple of minutes. Their car was valet parked and the two of them walked inside, close enough so that there was no question about whether or not they were together, but he didn't have his arm around her or she wasn't holding his hand.

Isabelle was incredible, as expected. Magnus and Clary could barely contain themselves, trying to remain classy and refraining from wolf whistling, but still showing their support. Alec's grin nearly split his face in half as he watched his sister strut herself, tossing her hair over her shoulder and sending her charming smile out to the audience. Simon Lewis looked as though he had never been more in love, his tongue practically hanging out of his mouth. Jace was clearly proud, but looked as though he had lost interest half an hour in, licking his lips and looking over at his girlfriend, who was still avoiding his gaze.

At the after party, Isabelle was flitting among groups of people, introducing her friends and family, and laughing with Clary. Jace was talking to Alec and Simon, while Magnus was off being his flamboyant self, talking with stylists, but Jace's eyes kept swinging back to Clary.

Even though the gold dress that she had planned on wearing had been absolutely gorgeous, and he had been looking forward to taking it off her with his teeth that night after they had had a couple of drinks, she still looked absolutely stunning. Her hair had been straightened and pulled back in a simple pony tail, a couple of strands falling around her face, and the navy blue dress had been one that she had worn when they had to gone to his companies Christmas party the previous year, when they had managed to sneak in a make out session like a couple of teenagers in the restaurant cloak room, so it brought back good memories. She was laughing, Isabelle and her glued to each others sides, and even though she was meant to be mad at him, when she looked across the room and their eyes met, her mouth softened into a small smile.

"I'm gonna go catch up with Clare," Jace said by way as goodbye to Alec and Simon before he was walking across the room. He had one of the overpriced bottles of beer in his hand from the bar, and he took a sip as he reached the two girls. "Can I steal Clary away?" He leaned in and kissed Isabelle on the cheek before his hand rested at the small of her back, steering her toward the back of the room.

The after party was at some big art gallery, the kind of place where Jace felt completely out of his element and where Clary usually came to for fun. There were waiters walking up and down the hall with trays of food and drink in their hand, and Jace tugged Clary into a doorway.

"What are we doing?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, but not looking annoyed. Jace glanced around, making sure they were alone before crowding her into the corner and kissing her hard on the mouth. Clary's lips turned upwards into a grin and she kissed him back for a moment before she was pushing on his chest. "You're a dick, you know that?" She said pointedly.

"I know," Jace conceded with a nod, but his eyes were twinkling, knowing that she wasn't angry anymore.

"And you seriously need to start remembering things. Like, set a friggin' reminder on your phone or something! It gets so, so, _so_ annoying when you forget to do stuff that I ask you to do _all the time_!" Clary's green eyes were sparking, clearly getting worked up about his bad memory, which had been a point of arguments between them for a long time.

"I know, baby, I know," Jace leaned forward and rubbed his nose against hers, kissing her lightly on the mouth. "I'm sorry, I'll be better. I'll remember next time." He pulled back and gave her puppy dog eyes, pouting out his lower lip a little, trying to get her forgiveness. Clary stared up at him, before rolling her eyes and letting out a huff.

"We both know that's bullshit," she muttered, although there was a wry smile on her face. "You have a terrible memory." Jace smirked, knowing that things were smoothed over between them.

"But you love me anyway," he pointed out as he nudged her with his shoulder, his boyish smile back.

"Yeah, yeah," Clary grumbled, trying to hide her smile.

"I love you," he sung out lightly, interlacing their fingers together.

"Yeah, yeah," Clary rolled her eyes good naturedly. "I love you too."

 _Right! So...How was it?_

 _I've got lots of recommendations I want to make coz I've been away for so long, but I'll just throw a couple out there. Movies—_ Moana _! It was amazing. So was_ Rogue One _, which I didn't expect to like because I'm not a big fan of Felicity Jones, but it was incredible, and Diego Luna is my new love. And a couple of songs I'm in love with at the moment are_ Falling For You _by Lyon Hart and_ Dangerously _by Charlie Puth._

 _Alright, so, tell me...Did you guys all have an amazing Christmas/New Years? Me and my hubby always travel for Christmas to see extended family, but it was just a quiet one at home with a couple of his family members, so that was nice. And for New Years we rented out a house by the beach with a couple of our close friends, so that was amazing._

 _Tell me what you guys got up to, and leave a review._

 _Don't forget to check out the new multi-chapter stories, which you guys all voted on, as well as a bunch of new oneshots I've written. I've gone and put some of them up :)_


	21. U : Underneath Your Clothes

_New chapter! This is a song that I've actually loved for so long, so I really hope I've done it justice. It definitely took a different turn than I thought it would, so I hope you guys enjoy it :)_

 **U : _Underneath Your Clothes -_ Shakira  
Requested by _bunnyoruga_**

 _You're a song_  
 _Written by the hands of God_  
 _Don't get me wrong cause_  
 _This might sound to you a bit odd_  
 _But you own the place_  
 _Where all my thoughts go hiding_  
 _And right under your clothes_  
 _Is where I find them_

 _Underneath your clothes_  
 _There's an endless story_  
 _There's the man I chose_  
 _There's my territory_  
 _And all the things I deserve_  
 _For being such a good girl, honey_

When people first looked at them, they looked they were part of the 'pretty people' crowd.

The ones where everything came easy.

Where there looks helped them to skate by in life.

Who didn't have much more to their personalities than their beautiful faces.

But that was wrong.

That was one of the furthest things from the truth.

Underneath their clothes told a whole other story.

Sometimes the first impressions helped; the fact that they didn't get pitying looks, or people going out of their way to say they were sorry, or they were there to listen, or the worst of all, that they _understood_.

But other times; like when girls hit on him, touching his arm or his shoulder when he wasn't expecting it and his whole body would tense and jerk. Or when someone would use a specific hand sanitizer when they were around her, and it reminded her of _then_ , and her stomach would roll over in panic.

That was why they had each other, though.

That was why they had each other, and they had their closest friends—or in Jace Herondale's case, his brothers in arms, and in Clarissa Morgenstern's case, the other survivors.

There were times when Clary was walking in a crowd of people, and she would catch a glimpse of her reflection in a window or a mirror, and she looked exactly like everyone else. Her hair was dyed a deep red and bounced around her shoulders, her make up was minimal but effective, she wore a cute dress, and a pair of ballet flats with bows on them. She blended right in. Maybe she looked a little edgier than your everyday business man or woman, with the colourful tattoo's that covered one side of her chest, up over her collarbone and over her shoulder, finishing on her upper arm, a couple of inches above her elbow.

She _wasn't_ just any other girl.

She was a _survivor_.

She had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was twenty years old, and until about the age of twenty-five, she was in and out of hospital, going through radiation therapy and having her left breast removed, before finally going into remission. Her confidence had taken a hit—when she had lost her hair, when she had lost what little meat she had on her bones, when her eyes were sunken into her face, and then when she lost her breast. Not only did have therapy for her physical health, she also needed it for her mental health. She went from being angry to being depressed, some days not able to leave her bed, muchless actually shower or have something to eat. She couldn't understand why this happened to her, why she had to feel sick all the time, _why_ she couldn't finish the art degree she had started and had been completely in love with.

She had her family, Jocelyn and Jonathon Morgenstern, and she had her best friend, Simon Lewis, but she had too many other people that she had thought were her close friends that just seemed to fade away. It took her a long time before she accepted who she was, who she had become now, how she was different than what she was before. But after becoming close with two of the other girls in her group therapy, Isabelle Lightwood and Maia Roberts, she started a new life, and she was finally in a right place in her head. Of course there were times when her insecurities caught up to her, when she would feel a little nauseous from a simple stomach bug or flu, and then everything from ten years ago would come flooding back, and it was like she was right back in the hospital, going through treatment after horrible treatment and not able to hold anything down, but those days were becoming fewer and fewer.

Jace had joined the army right out of school.

He had never done particularly well in his subjects, good enough too pass but not good enough to want to go into University. He and his best friend, Alec Lightwood, both joined up, and were luck enough to be stationed in the same unit. Jace fit in here, better than he had fit in anywhere. He was good at what he did, he got on well with the other men, and even if his smart mouth got him in trouble sometimes, he worked his way easily up the ranks. It didn't take him long to become a Sergeant, in charge of his own unit. He was in the middle of his seventh year, when he and his unit walked right into the middle of a trap. They were pinned down on all sides, taking gun fire, and the last thing Jace remembers from that time was his second in charge collapsing beside him, eyes open and lifeless, blood pooling around his head, and then he vaguely heard an explosion behind him, and everything went a blinding white.

It was weeks before he came to, fading in and out of consciousness, hearing people worrying and fussing around him, the beeping noise of hospital equipment, the occasional jab of a needle or a finger prodding at him. When he had finally woken up, lucid although not totally functioning, he realized that he could barely lift his arms and his entire torso was swathed in bandages. There were long words and sympathetic eyes, but all that Jace heard over and over again in the nightmares to come was that _returning to the front line wasn't an option_. They hadn't wanted to tell him, but he pushed—yelled—at them until they gave him the cold hard truth. He was honorably discharged, and Alec had been as well around the same time, because his sister had been diagnosed with cancer while they were away and he wanted to be home to support her, and they had moved back to New York. His rehabilitation was long and hard, and his temper flared up again and again. He drank too much, slept with far too many girls, all the while keeping his shirt on so that they couldn't see the scars littering his upper body. Loud noises and too many people set him off into panic attacks that he unhealthily just tried to _ignore_ , before Alec practically held him down in front of one of the VA therapists.

Jace and Clary had met through Isabelle and Alec.

Things had been frosty at first, mainly because both of them had these personalities that weren't really about letting new people in. Clary was twenty-seven and Jace was twenty-nine, and even though several years had past since they had post returned to the 'normal' world, they were still a little rough around the edges. Jace snapped at people on a regular basis and he lashed out, ready to strike, when there was a loud noise nearby. Clary's reactions weren't quite as obvious as his, but there was this constant tired look in her eyes and she didn't speak all that much.

But for some reason, their friends keep throwing them together. Dinners, movies, social gatherings which involved intense Monopoly games...Somewhere along the way, things seemed to just click between them.

They didn't sleep together for a long time. Sex had become a coping mechanism for Jace which didn't mean much to him anymore, and after he realized how much Clary meant to him, he didn't want to rush anything. The whole act was something that was still scary and too intimate for Clary—she hadn't slept with anyone since she had been diagnosed, so going on seven years now, and she wasn't in any hurry to do it anytime soon.

Jace learnt that Clary had gotten the tattoo's as part of the healing process. She had come to be proud of what she had struggled through, but she wanted something else over her left side, other than the puckered scar tissue. So there were swirls of leaves and flowers, some of them just plain black, some of them brightly coloured, which covered the left side of her chest, up over her collarbone and her shoulder, and beginning down her upper arm.

Clary learnt that Jace craved people's touch, even if he exuded this aura that he hated it. It wasn't that he needed something sexual, it was almost like that was the opposite of what he needed. He just needed people to touch him, to soothe him, bring him back to the place that he was in now, because the flash backs came at the most inopportune times. Alec would rest his hand on his shoulder and give it a squeeze, Isabelle would play with his hair absent mindedly, and then the rest was left to Clary, which she was more than happy to accommodate for.

It was almost nine months after they first started seeing each other before they were naked together. Sex would have been far too much the first time, and even the second or third time. They learnt each others bodies beneath the clothes, fingers ghosting over skin, nothing but love and care and tenderness in one anothers eyes.

The nakedness was so much more than sex.

It always was, baring yourself fully to someone. Some were easier with it than others, but it always _meant_ something.

To Jace and Clary...With their scars, with their stories written vividly across their flesh...Their nakedness meant complete and utter trust.

"Jace?" Clary mumbled, her hands closing into fists as she rubbed at her eyes. The bed beside her was empty but the sheets were still warm, so he had obviously not been up for long. She sighed and rolled over, looking at the clock on her bedside table and then raising her eyes in surprise when she saw that it was a little after eleven. She didn't usually sleep in this late, even in the weekends, but it had been a good sleep. She got out of bed, fumbling around almost blindly for one of Jace's shirts before padding out to the lounge.

"Morning, babe," Jace greeted her softly, sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop open and a cup of coffee in his hand. "Coffee's still hot." Clary huffed something under her breath, never sounding particularly intelligible before she had caffeine in her veins, and Jace just grinned before going back to whatever it was he was working on. She made herself a coffee, filling it with sugar and milk, and then letting out a dreamy sigh as the fix slowly took a hold. She walked over to Jace, resting a hand on his bare shoulder, her fingers grazing across one of the scars, faded and white with age but still visibly there, but he didn't flinch like he once would.

Five years of healing together had brought them both to a good place.

"I love you," Clary whispered, her lips bushing against his cheek before she sat down at the table opposite him, lifting up her legs to comfortably rest on his lap under the table.

"I love you too," Jace smiled at her over his cup of coffee.

 _Happy Valentines day to you, beautiful people! My song recommendations this time are_ Wild Things _by Alessia Cara. Pretty much anything by her actually, a massive thank you to my babe reppinda5o3 for making me listen to her in the first place. Then there's_ Paris _by Chainsmokers, and_ Please Don't Go _by Joel Adams. All songs I'm obsessed with at the moment._

 _Something that I forgot to make mention of in my last update—and I can't believe I forgot because I was a total mess when it happened—was Carrie Fisher :( OMG. It was so horrible to hear about her passing, and then her mother. My heart goes out to their family._ Star Wars _and Princess Leia will always hold such a special place in my heart xx_

 _Please leave a review, let me know what you guys think xx_


	22. V : Voodoo Doll

_And the next chapter! Getting close to the end of this one, which I'm pretty sad about. I really loved writing this story, with the input from you guys and the different story lines for each chapter. I'm actually thinking about maybe doing a second round of these, what do you guys think?_

 **V : _Voodoo Doll -_ 5 Seconds of Summer  
Requested by _BrunetteAngel12_**

 _Every time you're near me_  
 _Suddenly my heart begins to race_  
 _Every time I leave_  
 _I don't know why my heart begins to break_

 _Tell me where you're hiding your voodoo doll 'cause I can't control myself_  
 _I don't wanna stay, wanna run away but I'm trapped under your spell_  
 _And it hurts in my head and my heart in my chest_  
 _And I'm having trouble catching my breath_

Jace Wayland was twenty-two and had never fallen for anyone.

It wasn't as though he had set out for it _not_ to happen to him; it just hadn't.

And he really didn't mind, because he was completely satisfied with his life.

He lived with his cousin and best friend, Alec Lightwood, and last year, he finished his tattooist apprenticeship and finally had a steady job, and making good money. Alec's sister, Isabelle Lightwood, lived just down the hallway from them, and she made them dinner most nights, which was always incredible, and not to brag, but he got laid a lot. That always made things seem better. His parents had _finally_ gotten a divorce, which was what most children dreaded, but he had been hoping for it since he was a kid, because his mother was better off without his dead beat father dragging her down, and he had just convinced one of the piercers that he worked with, Magnus Bane, to ask Alec out on a date.

Life was pretty damn good.

And then it all got screwed up, the minute that Clarissa Fray waltzed on in to his apartment, red and black hair bouncing around her shoulders, tongue playing with the hoop in the corner of her lip and tattoo's licking at the neckline of the dress that she was wearing. She had smelt like moringa and weed and cigarette smoke and _goddamn perfection_ , and Jace had no idea what kind of black magic she was working, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her.

It was now six months later, and the spell hadn't worn off.

"Oi," Alec snapped his fingers in front of Jace's face and Magnus let out a snort. "When are you going to stop being a fucking creep and actually do something about this love affair that's going on in your head?"

"It's not a love affair," Jace shot back. "It's—" he broke off because Clary and Izzy were walking over to them, dodging around a couple who looked as though they were only seconds away from having sex in the doorway. "Hey!" Jace greeted them, completely and pathetically aware of the way his voice pitched a little in the middle. Izzy grinned and rolled her eyes while Clary just quirked a pierced eyebrow at him.

"You sharing?" She asked, nodding down at the joint he had just finished rolling and was about to light up with his beloved lighter, shaped like a tiny fist with the middle finger proudly lifted.

"Always," Jace smirked at her, shuffling over on the bed that he was sitting on to make room for her.

"Well, we all know that's bullshit," Alec muttered. "He _never_ shares his weed." Jace wasn't even listening to them anymore, he only had eyes for Clary. Over the past six months that she had been in his life, he had probably learnt more about her than he even knew about Alec and Izzy. He had stopped at nothing to find out everything that he could about her, asking their friends and her brother, who he had met at one of these parties not long after he had met her. She looked as gorgeous as she ever did right now. She was wearing a ripped Parental Advisory Recommended tee-shirt that was cut off above her midriff, showing off the tattoo's all up and down her left arm, across her collarbone and down the left side of her body, along with her belly button piercing. She had cut her hair recently, so it wasn't flowing down her back anymore, but only a couple of inches past her shoulder, streaks of black still through it. She had piercings all up and down each ear, one in the corner of her lip, two in her tongue and one in her nose.

God.

This girl was astounding.

"Do you know who's place this is?" Clary shouted over the music as Jace rasped his finger over the lighter, preparing to light the joint.

"Nope," Jace shouted back. There was some kind of angry rock music that was playing, thundering through the walls of the cheap apartment. Undoubtedly it could be heard throughout the whole floor, and probably the one above and below them, but the whole building was filled with either college students, recent graduates or other people in that age bracket, so the whole place was alive on a Friday night.

"Want to go to my place then?" Clary shouted, her lips close to his ear, mouth actually grazing the shell and making him feel like an electric shock had gone down his spine.

"You live here?!" He asked after a moment of hesitation, only because his body had malfunctioned when she touched him.

"Down two floors," she said, already getting off the bed and leading the way out of the bedroom. Jace was getting off the bed and following after her without a second thought. His legs were feeling a little wobbly underneath him from the pot and the bourbon he had been consuming pretty much all night, but he was quite used to it now, and managed to walk in a straight line after her. The apartment was packed with a hazy mist, from cigarette and weed smoke, and it smelt sweet and dank, and the fresh air that came when he stepped into the hallway was welcome.

He was going to need to have at least some functional thoughts going on in his brains if he was going to be alone with Clary for the first time in six months.

Sure, they had all been hanging out quite a bit, and they had even text and Facebooked each other a couple of times, but they had never actually been alone together. He shoved the remaining joint and lighter into his pocket as he followed her, running a hand through his shaggy blonde hair and touching his finger to the corner of his mouth, feeling the stud of his piercing. Clary took the stairs, rather than the elevator, and it took him a little longer than usual to follow without looking like a total idiot and falling ass over head, but he managed. She stopped outside an apartment and unlocked it, walking inside, and Jace followed her, kicking the door shut behind her.

The apartment smelt exactly the same way she did.

Moringa from her spray, lavender from her hand cream, cigarette and weed, which seemed to faintly follow after her, clinging to her clothes.

The mixture was quickly becoming his most favourite scent.

Clary turned on a dim lamp in the lounge and then sat down on the couch, tucking one of her legs up underneath her, not caring that her short skirt was hitched up around her waist now and he caught a glimpse of the bright red underwear she was wearing underneath. Jace stumbled over to her and gave her a half smile, before lighting up the joint and putting it between his lips. He was about to pull it out and pass it over to her, when suddenly her mouth was sealed over his.

"Oomph," Jace let out a surprised gasp. It was only a momentary kiss, a hard push of their lips together, and then she was pulling back, her green eyes glued to him.

"How long before you were going to ask me out?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I, uh—I, _what_?" Clary scrunched up her nose and let out a cute little laugh.

"How long before you were going to ask me out?" She repeated.

"I didn't realize...I didn't realize you were waiting for me to ask you out?" Jace bumbled over his words. He was usually a lot smoother than this, and even though he knew that it was entirely Clary's fault that his brain was short-circuiting, he was going to blame it on the weed and the alcohol.

"Let's see," Clary pursed her pretty pink mouth, the black hoop in the corner twitching upwards slightly as she shifted herself so that she was straddling him, and resting her arms on each of his shoulders. "You're absolutely gorgeous, and you clearly have no problems with the ladies. But ever since the first night I met you, I haven't seen you with anyone." That was true. Jace was painfully aware of _just_ how true it was. Kaelie Whitewillow had been texting him almost every Saturday night, but Jace was still saying no. There was once when he had said no because they were going out to the movies all together and Clary had offered to share her popcorn with him, and there was no way he wasn't going to miss the chance at brushing his fingers against hers at sporadic intervals. "Also, you kind of stare at me like a stalker whenever we're in the same room together."

"I do not!" Jace protested, even though he knew it was true.

"You do," Clary poked at his chest with one long, painted fingernail and gave him a long look from beneath thick eyelashes. "So?" She ran her finger lower down his chest, flattening her hand against his abdominals, Jace feeling the heat from her skin through his thin tee-shirt.

"So..." Jace didn't realize that he had been holding his breath until he sucked in a lungful of air. "Do you wanna go out with me sometime?" A smile broke out across Clary's face and she nodded, leaning forward to kiss him hard on the mouth.

 _OMG! How many times have you guys watched Jenna Dewan-Tatum's dance to her hubby's_ Magic Mike _song? She's so fucking hot! Her and Channing are my fave celeb couple *sigh*. Out of those Lip Sync battle performances, I don't know if it's the Tatum's who are my favourites, or the Hough siblings, coz Julianne and Derek are just baaaaabes._

 _So for another story that I'm working on, can you guys give me job/career ideas of what you imagine our TMI characters having in an AU world? Clary, Jace, Izzy, Simon, Alec, Magnus, Kaelie, Maia, Raphael...Etc etc. Let me know in the reviews or in a PM._

 _Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate how beautiful Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner looked at the Oscars? Holy shit. And how Taraji P Henson absolutely slayed on the red carpet? She's so fucking_ gorgeous _._

 _Please leave review!_


	23. W : What Makes You Beautiful

_So, I've decided that I will do another round of these! I'll post this in my other stories, asking people for their requests, but I'll put it in here first. Let me know what your requests are either in the comments or in a PM, and I'll start to try and get a list together :) Please keep in mind I won't be able to do all of them, but I will try to keep it fair._

 **W : _What Makes You Beautiful_ \- One Direction  
Song Requested by** **_Luvmortalinstruments  
_** **Story Idea by _BrunetteAngel12_**

 _Baby you light up my world like nobody else_  
 _The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed_  
 _But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell_  
 _You don't know_  
 _Oh, oh_  
 _You don't know you're beautiful_  
 _If only you saw what I can see_  
 _You'd understand why I want you so desperately_  
 _Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe_  
 _You don't know_  
 _Oh, oh_  
 _You don't know you're beautiful_  
 _Oh, oh_  
 _That's what makes you beautiful_

Simon Lewis was completely out of place.

He was surrounded by a bunch of screaming girls—a lot of them under the age of fifteen—and he completely regretted not taking up Clarissa Fray's suggestion not to bring ear plugs.

He was twenty-four years old and had been to more than a dozen concerts, and yet this was undoubtedly louder than all of them. He was pretty certain that he was going to have a headache that was going to keep him awake all night and he wasn't completely convinced that he wasn't going to have an eardrum burst.

But then he looked to his left, where Isabelle Lightwood was standing, her eyes glowing and her hair in a mess around her face, a grin almost breaking her face in half, and he knew that it was all worth it. Because even though he didn't quite understand the fascination with the boy band that was so ridiculously popular right now, Isabelle had clearly caught the fever, and she was standing on her chair, dancing and screaming out the words.

"I'm going to go and get some drinks!" Simon tried shouting at Isabelle. She blinked at him, looking away from the stage and the big screens that were projecting images of the boys on stage, clearly not knowing what he had just said. "I said I'm going to get some drinks!" He shouted, this time a little bit louder and closer to her ear. She seemed to realize what he was saying because she nodded her head at him before looking back at the stage, throwing her hands above her head and screaming again as they announced their next song. Simon sighed and began to make his way down the aisle, getting a couple of glares and grumbles as he had to walk past others, then started down the stairs of the stands that they were on.

It actually surprised Simon just how many people there were at this concert who _weren't_ twelvies. He didn't quite realize how many older people listened to One Direction, but then if someone as cool and sassy as his girlfriend could be infatuated by them, then he guessed he shouldn't be so surprised.

"Can I have two lemonades?" He asked the girl behind the counter. She nodded, looking bored and tired, before pushing them over to him and charging him a ridiculous amount for two cups of soda. He took a deep breath, rolling his shoulders to prepare himself before going back pushing open the doors to go back into the arena, the muted screams suddenly becoming a whole lot more louder the instant the doors opened, and he couldn't help but wince. He began up the stairs toward their assigned seats, and his eyes flickered over to Isabelle.

She was kind of perfect.

And by kind of, he meant that sometimes she had these little flaws, like she loved teenage boy bands.

But he could overlook that.

Because she was gorgeous, and smart, and funny, and for some reason, when she looked at him, she got this soft, warm look in her eyes that made him feel like the most special guy in the whole world.

Simon had no idea how he had gotten so lucky with her, she was way out of his league. He was just waiting for the day to come by when she realized how much of a dork he was and how much better she could do, and then she decided to move on. He tried to ignore those thoughts, to just enjoy the moments that he had been gifted with—the here and the now—but sometimes they came back to haunt him.

Times like now.

Simon made his way back down their aisle, cringing as two particularly loud, blonde girls squealed in his ear, and then reached the spare seat next to Isabelle. He handed her the drink and she grinned at him, taking a sip from the straw, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before looking back at the stage. The show was almost over, which his ear drums were forever thankful for, and Simon resigned himself to sitting down and attempting to pay attention to the rest of the concert.

After the concert, they tried to make their way out quickly, but there was a crowd of people, all sweaty and still vibrating with energy from the show. Isabelle was clinging onto Simon's hand, bouncing up and down next to him and kissing him excitedly every couple of minutes.

"Okay, so, I _know_ that you totally hated it the whole way through," Isabelle was saying as they got out of the arena and started the walk toward the parking structure where Simon's beat up van was parked. "But thank you so much for coming with me! Clary flat out refused, and Magnus has some conference thing out of town or else he would have come." Simon grinned as he put an arm around her shoulders, bringing her in close to him.

"It's no problem, you know I'd do anything for you," he grinned at her, meaning for the words to be careless and joking, but Isabelle's smile faded and she chewed down on her bottom lip. Simon glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, wondering what had brought on the new expression, and she stopped walking, forcing him to pause next to her.

"I know you would, Si," she told him softly, shifting her hands so that they were gripping the front of his shirt, pulling him in close to her. "I hope you know how much I appreciate that." Simon opened his mouth to reply, but then she was pressing their lips together, firmly holding him against her as she kissed him, not caring that their were people from the concert still trying to get around and toward the parking complex. When they pulled apart, Simon's glasses were a little fogged up, and Isabelle giggled as she took them off his nose, wiping them with the hem of her shirt and then pushing them back up his nose. "Come on," she grabbed his hand and tugged, nodding toward a little vendor that was selling merchandise. "I want to grab one of their CD's to listen to on the way home!"

Simon didn't have it in him to let out a pained groan as he followed after her.

 _Okay! So my song recommendations this time are_ Eraser _by Ed Sheeran, but let's be honest, I completely love pretty much everything by him. Also_ Alarm _by Ann Marie, which was recommended to me by Caaatttt, and_ Sleepover _by Hayley Kiyoko, although just like with Ed Sheeran, I love everything by Hayley, and her music videos are always incredible._

 _Something else I wanted to ask about was if any of you guys have watched_ Riverdale _? I remember reading the_ Archie _comics when I was younger, and I was pretty surprised when they decided to make a show about it. I find the show...Pretty average, but I really love some of the characters, especially Cheryl Blossom and Jughead Jones. And so, like with any fandom when I start to really like the characters, I've decided that I'm probably going to write a fic! I'm wondering if any of you guys would be interested? Let me know!_

 _Leave a review, let me know what you think xx_


	24. X : XO

_And we've got the next chapter! Not too many left. Send me requests if you guys have any for the second round of these :)_

 **X : _XO_ \- Beyonce  
Requested by _Luvmortalinstruments_ and _Julmclay_**

 _I love you like XO_  
 _You love me like XO_  
 _You kill me boy XO_  
 _You love me like XO_  
 _All that I see_  
 _Give me everything_  
 _Baby, love me lights out_  
 _Baby, love me lights out_  
 _You can turn my lights out_

 _In the darkest night hour (in the darkest night hour)_  
 _I'll search through the crowd (I'll search through the crowd)_  
 _Your face is all that I see_  
 _I'll give you everything_  
 _Baby, love me lights out_  
 _Baby, love me lights out_  
 _You can turn my lights out_

"So are you going to tell her?" Magnus sung out from where he was crammed into the backseat of Jace Wayland's Jeep Wrangler, Simon Lewis squished into the middle seat and Jordan Kyle on the other side.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jace replied, purposefully leaning forward to turn the music up louder. Magnus wasn't one to be silenced though, so he stretched between the two front seats and turned the music back down. "Oh my _god_ , Alec! Your boyfriend is an asshole!" He pouted across at the passenger seat where his best friend, Alec Lightwood, was sitting. Alec just shrugged, not particularly caring about the arguing that had been going on for the past half hour.

"We all know you feel it," Jordan suddenly piped up and Jace let out a groan, clenching his hands around the steering wheel.

"Seriously, bro—you too?! This is my car! I could kick you all out and make you walk the rest of the way!" Jace groaned.

"No, I don't think so," Simon smirked. "Because then you'll have to tell my best friend why you dumped us all. And you're clearly to chicken to do that."

"I hate my life," Jace sighed as he slung his arm out the window, attempting to ignore his friends. The only one who hadn't been getting it on this conversation was Alec, and that was because Alec knew Jace better than anyone, and knew that it didn't matter how much other people pushed him, he would always take things at his own pace.

"She feels the same way—she'll say it back," Magnus assured him.

"Then why doesn't she say it first?!" Jace protested.

"Because girls have this thing about who says it first," Jordan reasoned.

"I don't even _like_ girls, and _I_ know that, little caramel," Magnus mused, tapping his fingers against his the side of his face with a knowing smirk. Simon looked like he was going to start on the blonde as well, but they rounded a corner and were suddenly a part of a massive queue of cars that looked as though they were barely crawling along to the entrance-way of the festival.

There were frustrated groans from everyone in the car.

* * *

After parking up, it took almost another half an hour for the boys to find the girls in the thousands of people that were gathered in the field. It was almost eleven, and there were already a couple of acts happening on the big stages. There were booths set up, selling over priced beer and food and merchandise, and a couple of stands set up with free chargers for phones and cameras. The girls had all come in a separate car, since eight of them all together was too much for one car. So the boys had come in one with Jace driving, and Isabelle Lightwood had brought herself, Clarissa Fray and Maia Roberts. When they found the girls, Jace felt his step falter a little as he caught sight of his girlfriend.

Isabelle had been going on about their 'outfits' for the past week, and Jace was frankly sick of it, but he might have to retract every bad thought he had.

Because Clary looked...She was _hot_.

Not that she didn't always look hot, but there was just something about her today.

She was wearing a pair of distressed, denim cut off shorts that showed her toned legs, flat sandals that had straps that wound their way up her calves. She had on a cropped shirt that finished just beneath her bra, which could be seen through the thin material, and her hair was all curls and braids, pinned up around her face and head with a couple of pins and a material headband. There were bangles and bracelets all up her arms, and she was wearing a lot more make up than she usually did, undoubtedly done by Izzy.

"Jace!" Clary let out a squeal as she skipped over to him and jumped up, her legs going around his waist and her arms around his neck. Jace grinned, gripping her slim waist and pushing their lips together.

"Hey, baby," Jace mumbled against her mouth, nipping at her lower lip and then nuzzling against her neck. "How you doing?"

"I'm doing good," Clary smirked as she tightened her legs around his waist. "So we ready to do this?" She looked around the circle that their friends made, almost bouncing in excitement.

"Fuck yeah we are!" Isabelle crowed, throwing one arm around her brothers neck and the other around her boyfriends, Simon. "Let's go!"

There were nine stages set up throughout the valley, and by the time lunch rolled around, there were singers on every single one of them. People were getting drunk and high, climbing on one anothers shoulders and standing up on the structures that separated the stages. Clary being the smallest always managed to find someones shoulders to climb on, even when the group split up and her and Jace went separate ways. At the moment, it was her, Alec and Isabelle watching Florence + The Machine, and Clary was on Alec's shoulders, her arms above her head as she screamed out the lyrics.

"How did you go on your end?" Izzy had to keep her voice loud enough so that Alec could hear her over the music but low enough so that Clary didn't hear.

"You know I'm not part of this mess!" Alec replied with a shake of his head, which was a little difficult given Clary's thighs were on either side.

"This shit is getting ridiculous!" Izzy grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking like one of the grumpiest people at the music festival. "They need to tell each other!" Alec laughed, tickling his sister in the side and then almost flying off balance as Clary let out a scream and wiggled her body around, throwing herself into the song.

By the time five o'clock came around, they were all buzzed. Maia was probably the drunkest, Simon not too far behind, and Magnus had taken a few pills that had his pupils dilated and more publicly affectionate toward Alec than usual.

"Warm beer," Jace hummed out with a laugh. "Ain't this the life?"

"You love it," Clary teased him, running a fingernail down his arm. The sun was still bearing down on all of them, and they had decided to take a breather and sit down in the shade from one of the hundred tents. Simon and Jordan had done a food run, coming back with cardboard bowls of chips and hot dogs, and Alec had gone and gotten them all jugs of beer, which were no longer cold because it seemed as though everyone had run out of ice cubes.

"I could do this every weekend," Isabelle announced from where she was leaning against Simon. Her outfit was a little skimpier than Clary and Maia's, although it definitely wasn't the most revealing there; in a bikini top and black shorts.

"Oh, God no," Clary groaned. "I mean, this is amazing, but I'm all about sleep ins and no make up on Sundays and watching TV for the day."

"No fun," Isabelle sighed. "No sense of adventure."

"Oh, fuck you," Clary threw one of her chips over at Isabelle who laughed and batted it away.

"Please tell me that we're going to see Diplo," Jordan piped up as he finished off the plastic cup of beer and tossing it toward one of the multiple bins.

"Yes!" Alec leaned over and the two of them bumped fists. "I'm with you at that one."

"I'm pretty keen on heading over to see Lorde," Maia linked her fingers together with her boyfriends.

"And Imagine Dragons," Clary looked up questioningly at Jace who nodded at her.

"I'll go with you," he told her, giving her a brief kiss.

"And final act?" Magnus tilted his head as he looked around the group. "We all need to go to that one together, so we all need to agree."

"I vote Avicii!"

"Ooh, I'm all for that!"

"Me too."

"So everyone wants to do that one?" Magnus raised his pierced eyebrow, and was greeted with nods. "Sounds like a plan." He got to his feet, needing to take a moment to steady himself and then reaching out with both hands to help pull is boyfriend to his feet. "We'll catch you all later," he said, reaching out and grabbing Alec's ass before dragging him away. They all slowly split up, heading in different directions with the promise to keep in touch with their phones so that they could meet up. Clary and Jace managed to pay attention to at least two songs from Imagine Dragons, before he was picking her up and carrying her over to the barriers separating the stages and smacking their lips together. Jace was sober, but Clary had had a couple of beers and she was giggling and laughing as he kissed his way down her neck and over her shoulders.

They had been together for nearly a year now.

They had been friends for a lot longer, but had only actually decided to give their relationship a go twelve months ago. Jace could be arrogant, but Clary saw through his bullshit. Clary was shy, but Jace had drawn her out a lot. Before they went out, there was no way she was confident enough to go out in public in shorts and act like she was now.

They were good together.

Jace just hadn't quite built up the courage to say the three words that he felt on the tip of his tongue whenever they were laying out on the hammock in her backyard, or when she was singing at the top of her lungs in the passenger seat of his Jeep, or drawing in her sketch pad with the tip of her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth.

"Come on, Jace," Clary was smirking with him as she grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the station selling fluro paint and glowsticks. Isabelle had already made a trip there before they had all met up for dinner, and had pink and blue streaks through her dark hair, and stripes painted up and down her arms. "You know you want some!" Clary picked up one of the paintbrushes and waved it in front of Jace's face.

"Uh, no," Jace crinkled up his nose in disgust. "You're asking the guy who colour codes his hoodies and never uses a towel more than once before washing it if he wants to cover himself in paint? And with a paintbrush that has been on countless other sweaty bodies?" He actually looked a little sick at the thought. "It's like you don't know me at all." Clary laughed and rolled her eyes. It wasn't quite dark yet, but it was getting there, and lights were beginning to flash on around the massive valley. People were even drunker now, which meant that they were stumbling around and bumping into one another more, but by this point, most people didn't care.

"Well, did you want to maybe..." Clary dunked the paintbrush in green paint and licked her lips slowly as she extended the handle of the brush to him. "Paint _me_?" Jace's eyes darkened and Clary grinned as he took the paint. She was clearly feeling brave, fueled by the beer and the atmosphere, and she lifted up the tiny shirt she was wearing so that her entire torso was bare to him, and he could see in detail her lacy bra. He wasn't even sure what kind of designs he was painting on her body, but his whole body felt hot and prickly as he swirled and dotted her stomach and cleavage and arms, using the green, and pink, and blue. Clary seemed to know what she was doing to him, slowly turning so that he could also do her back, before twisting back to face him, rolling her eyes over his body before finally meeting his. "We should go and meet up with the rest of them," she grinned and kissed him quickly on the cheek before skipping off, forcing Jace to job after her so that he didn't loose her in the crowds.

"Fuck, was it Magnus?" Jace let out a laugh as he saw Alec, who was now splashed in yellow and green fluro paint and not looking particularly happy about it.

"Something like that," Alec rolled his eyes, but there was an undeniable fondness in his expression. Magnus didn't look at all repentant, leaning in and kissing Alec loudly on the check, leaving behind a fluro lip smudge in pink.

"If you're not going to wear any paint, you have to have some of these," Isabelle waved some glowsticks in front of Jace's face and he took them from her, cracking them open and twisting a couple around his wrists. Everyone else was either painted or wearing glowsticks, and Clary slung a few more around her neck, lighting up her skin. "We sticking together for the rest of the night?"

"Of course," Maia wrapped an arm around Isabelle's waist and kissed her cheek. "Where are we off to now?" Simon was all painted up and he looked completely unlike himself and Clary laughed as she nudged her friend in the side as they all started making their way to the next act. The three girls were holding hands and skipping off in front, Alec and Magnus were next, arms around each other and trading sloppy kisses, the the rest of the boys brought up the rear, Jace and Jordan both smoking cigarettes while Simon stared after his girlfriend with a lovesick expression on his face.

The final act started just after eleven.

The sky was completely dark, but the valley was completely alive. People covered in paint and glowsticks were gyrating, singing and laughing underneath the spotlights and strobe lights that were spinning around to light up the crowds. There were three different final acts going on, and thousands of people were cramming in to see each one, and the eight almost lost each other in the crowd. The atmosphere was completely electric, everyone was buzzing and completely alive. Avicii was incredible, and everyone was jumping and screaming, with pink and purple and blue floodlights falling over them and painting their skin different colours. _Wake Me Up_ started playing and there was renewed vigor in peoples screams.

Most people were watching the stage, the big projector screens on either side or the artists themselves. But Jace...He couldn't take his eyes off of Clary.

The three girls were standing in front of the boys, their arms above their heads, tiling their heads back and shaking out their hair. Clary's hair had half fallen out of the braids and ties she had it in, and it was starting to tumble down her back, and there were flecks of paint throughout. She looked so happy, and gorgeous, and free, and he felt those three words catching in his throat, just like they had been for the past few months, and he knew that he needed to say them.

"Hey, hey," he got her attention, grabbing her elbow and jerking her back toward him. Clary laughed as she stumbled back into him, turning around to face him, tipping her head backwards to she could meet his eyes. "I love you," he told her seriously, his heart beating a hundred beats a second in his chest. Clary's smile faltered for a moment, her big green eyes swirling over his face as though to judge if he was being truthful or not. When she found what she was looking for, her smile was back, splitting her face in half.

"I love you too," she replied, Jace barely able to hear the words over the thumping music, but definitely able to make out the words on her perfect mouth. She grinned up at him, her skin glowing multi-coloured under the lights before she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

 _My song recommendations this time are_ Galway Girl _by Ed Sheeran,_ Kings _by Years and Years and_ Pretty Girl _by Maggie Lindemann. Especially the first song, I've had it on repeat for the past two weeks. So addicted. Also Calum Scott's cover of_ Dancing On My Own _. Holy shit. So incredible. His audition for Britain's Got Talent almost had me and my husband in tears, he was so incredible._

 _Also, I can't stop watching_ Law and Order: SVU. _I've watched it on so many occasions, but holy shit, I've almost made my way through two seasons in two weeks. Haha. Olivia Benson is one of my all time favourite characters of all time...She's so amazing...Another show I'm really getting into is_ Riverdale _. I thought it was quite young the first few episodes, but I'm quite enjoying it now. I absolutely love Cheryl, and I really like Betty and Jughead and Veronica as well :)_

 _Leave a review, let me know what you guys think xx_


	25. Y : Yours To Hold

_Hey, guys! So here we go with the next update. Also just wanting to let you know that I will be taking the rest of the month off, so no other updates until May. Just have a lot going on in my life at the moment and I'm feeling a bit stressed out. But I'll still be around, so if you want to fangirl or talk, send me a PM. From May, the updating schedule on my profile will be adhered to once again :)_

 **Y : _Yours To Hold_ \- Skillet  
Requested by _Soccerpup17_**

 _I'm stretching but you're just out of reach_  
 _You should know_  
 _I'm ready when you're ready for me_  
 _And I'm waiting for the right time_  
 _For the day I catch your eye_  
 _To let you know_  
 _That I'm yours to hold_  
 _Every single day_  
 _I find it hard to say_  
 _I could be yours alone_  
 _You will see someday_  
 _That all along the way_  
 _I was yours to hold_  
 _I was yours to hold_

"You're pathetic," Alec Lightwood stated with a fond smile on his face as he watched Jace Wayland almost drop the tray of croissants that he had brought out of the kitchen and his eyes had zeroed in on the red head who was sitting in the corner of the coffee shop. She was with her friend, the nerdy kid with scruffy hair and glasses, and she was laughing, her head tossed back. There was an order number between them on the table, which meant that they were still waiting on their coffee, and Jace's eyes skittered over to the order sitting behind the espresso machine.

"You haven't taken her coffee out yet?" He asked quietly, ignoring the smirk on his best friends face.

"No, we wouldn't do that to you, Jace," Isabelle Lightwood grinned and came up behind the golden haired boy, nudging him in the side. Jace tried to ignore the heat on his cheeks as he quickly shoved the tray of pastries into the display cabinet beside the cash register and picked up the two styrofoam cups of coffee. One of them had Simon written in Alec's scrawl, and the other said _Clary_. Alec had annoyingly put a little smiley face next to her name, just to piss him off, and Jace rolled his eyes as he picked them up and started over to the table in the corner.

"Order 23?" He phrased it like a question, nodding at their order number, even though Jace knew perfectly well that it was their coffee in his hand.

"Thanks, man," Simon Lewis reached out gratefully for the coffee, wrapping his hand around the cup and practically inhaling it.

"Oooh," Clarissa Fray's eyes widened as she fixed them on the coffee that Jace was handing her. She took in from his hand and flashed him a quick smile. "Thanks." And then she was looking back at Simon, starting to babble about some new professor she had for Art History over at NYU. Jace hesitated for a second, but then Simon gave him a bit of a questioning look, and so he high-tailed it back behind the counter, because what exactly was he going to do? Eavesdrop with ridiculous hope that maybe she would involve him in their conversation?

He was pretty sure she didn't even know his name, it's not like they wore name tags.

Clary had started coming into _Lava Java_ at the beginning of the year. It was easy to tell that she was a New Yorker born and raised, and not just someone who had moved into the city for University. It was easy to tell the ones who weren't used to the fast paced hustle bustle, and Clary wasn't one of them.

As time went on, through small talk and overheard conversations between Clary and her friends, Jace learnt that she lived in Brooklyn all of her life, which was why he had never seen her around. She had moved into an apartment nearby with Simon and their other friend, Maia Roberts, and they were all attending NYU. Jace wasn't sure what Simon or Maia were studying, but he knew that Clary was taking something relating to Art.

More than once she came in with paint on her face or in her hair.

Jace thought it was utterly adorable.

"Can I get another one?" Clary's voice snapped Jace out of his work, where he had been methodically wiping down the benches. He realized it must have been a while since he had taken her coffee over to them, because her and Simon had all finished and packed up their things and were ready to go.

"Another hazelnut cappuccino?" Jace asked unnecessarily, already moving to start making it. Clary's pretty, pink lips curved upward in a smile and she nodded, tucking a few unruly strands of red hair behind her air. Clary pulled out her debit card from her wallet as she waited patiently for him to finish her coffee.

He had thought about asking her out a hundred time, but how awkward would that be? They barely knew each other. He was just the guy that made her coffee every other day.

"Don't worry," Jace pushed the coffee cup over to her, giving her a smile as he waved away her attempt to pay. "It's on the house." Clary frowned a little.

"Oh, are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's totally fine," Jace assured her with a grin. Clary's expression relaxed and she gave him a smile in return, those gorgeous green eyes of hers sparkling up at him.

"Thanks, Jace," she told him, tilting the coffee cup toward him in farewell before turning on her heel and heading toward the door, where Simon was waiting for her, texting away on his phone. Jace watched her leave, his golden eyes round in surprise as she disappeared. When he turned around, the Lightwood siblings were standing there, in identical positions with their arms crossed over their chests, eyebrows raised.

"She knows my name," Jace's grin almost split his face in half.

"Pathetic," Alec repeated.

"I agree, big brother," Isabelle smirked.

Clary was back in the next day, this time with Maia and another girl, Aline Penhallow. They ordered their coffee to go, and then waited a little bit away from the counter as Jace made up their order. They had also ordered brownies, which Isabelle was warming up for them out the back, after giving Jace a pointed nod. Jace scribbled the three girls names on their coffee cups—the typical hazelnut cappuccino for Clary, a caramel macchiato for Maia and a cinnamon frappuccino for Aline. His hand paused over Clary's one, the vivid in his hand poised to write down what he had wanted to do for the past few months since she had first walked into their coffee shop.

 _Would you like to go out with me sometime?_

As per usual, he chickened out.

"Aline! Maia! C-Clary!" His voice stumbled a little over her name and he kicked himself internally. The three girls came over, ducking around the line that had formed at the register where Alec was taking orders. Clary's two friends were grinning at him, and shooting looks back at slightly pink-cheeked Clary as they took their cups from him. Clary rolled her eyes as she reached for her own coffee.

"Thanks, Jace," she said softly as she took her cup.

"Have a great day," Jace smiled at her. Her friends nudged her with their elbows as they walked out, throwing looks over their shoulders at him before saying something to Clary and giggling and then they were gone. Jace bit down on his lower lip, wondering what it was that they were saying that was making Clary blush so pretty, and was jolted back out of his reverie when Alec snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"Bro," he stated. "Quit pining, and start making my orders." He shoved over the list of receipts from his customers who were waiting before moving onto the next lady, looking harried as she tugged her screaming child along behind her. Jace quickly started on the next lot of coffee.

Three days went by without Clary coming in, and Jace couldn't help but feel a niggle of disappointment. His cousins teased him, saying that maybe she had moved onto another coffee shop where the barista would actually man up and act on his crush rather than just giving her the occasional free hazelnut cappuchino to show his affection. But then she shuffled in on the fourth day, looking exhausted as she pulled her beanie down further over her head.

"Clary?" Jace said tentatively as she approached the register. She lifted her tired eyes to his and gave him a smile, small but genuine. "You okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," Clary replied with a sigh. "I've got this massive art project due, so I've been stuck either in my apartment or at the studio, working."

"You've been able to function without your caffeine fix?" Jace joked lightly and Clary cringed.

"I've been using the instant stuff we have at home," she replied.

"Betrayal," Jace's eyes widened in mock disappointment and Clary let out a laugh.

"Don't worry, it doesn't compare to you—uh, to your coffee," her cheeks reddened a little. Jace grinned and automatically began moving behind the espresso machine. Clary fiddled with her wallet, waiting for him to finish. He picked up the vivid, even though there was no need to write her name because she was the only one in the coffee shop who hadn't received her order. He paused after he wrote her name, glancing over to where the red head was texting on her phone, waiting for him to finish her order. He took a shaky breath and added another note under her name.

"Here we go—on the house," he told her. Clary grinned at him .

"I promise I won't take three days before coming back next time," she told him, turning around and heading back out the door. As soon as she left, Jace regretted the extra message he had added.

" _Why_?" He groaned to himself, picking up a bottle of all-purpose cleaner and a cloth, starting to wipe down the counter to distract himself. His phone vibrated in his pocket a few minutes later and he practically threw down the cloth and cleaning bottle in his haste to answer it.

 _So writing your number on my coffee cup is your way of finally asking me out?_

There was a cute string of emoticons following after the message, and Jace couldn't stop a stupid smile from spreading across his face as he started to compose his reply.

 _Songs this time..._ Symphony _by Clean Bandit featuring Zara Lasson. Holy shit. So completely in love._ Shape of You _, the cover by Madilyn Bailey. This chick has_ suuuch _an incredible voice, I love most of her covers, but this one is amazing. And the song_ Shout _, the version by Think Up Anger, that was on Riverdale. It's incredible. Also, I finally got around to watching_ The Get Down _, and I can't believe I waited so long,_

 _Let me know what songs you guys are listening to, and if you guys have seen_ The Get Down _!_

 _Did you guys like the chapter? Yes, no, maybe? The letters left to be requested for the next round of these are_ _A , F , J , K , Q , R , U , V , X , and Z, so send through your requests, I'll give the songs a listen to and see if they're something that I feel I can make a story out of!_

 _Leave a review, let me know what you think :)_

 _Also, I would like to say Transgender Day of Visibility for the other day xx_


	26. Z : Zombie

_And we've got an update! Thank you guys for being patient with me; just got a lot going on right now, and my health is still playing up_ — _alongside my usual migraines, I've also had a cold for over a month that I just can't shake, so if you guys have any home remedies, let me know!_ _Anyway, on with the chapter, hope you enjoy!_

 _Also_ — _there's been some problems with uploading, giving me errors when I'm uploading, and apparently not sending out alerts to you guys by email. So...Fingers crossed this works for everyone this time!_

 **Z : _Zombie_ \- Natalia Kills  
Requested by _Me_**

 _I'm in love with a zombie_  
 _When he put his hands on me_  
 _Send chills through my body_  
 _But then he don't call me_

 _And I know that he like me_  
 _Cause he chasing me nightly_  
 _And I want him to bite me_  
 _Cause i know I'm gonna like it, like it, like it, like it_

 _I'm in love with a zombie (boy)_  
 _I'm in love with a zombie (boy)_  
 _I'm in love with a zombie (boy)_  
 _But his heart is so cold_

Jace Herondale was somewhat of a legend in the Shadowhunter world.

Clarissa Morgenstern tried not to listen to the rumors that flew around about him because, being something of a legend herself, she knew most of the time the rumors were just that.

Complete and utter bullshit.

There was gossip going around that she took on twenty vampires at once, _single handedly._

And that she had gone up against Magnus Bane in a verbal battle and won.

And that she had slept with four Shadowhunters at once, in the dank training room in the basement of the Institute.

Complete and utter bullshit.

As if anyone could actually go up against Magnus and his sassy, sharp tongue and walk away feeling as though they had come out on top.

So everything that Clary heard about Jace she took with a touch of wariness. She had only met the guy three times, and two out of those three times they hadn't even spoken. She was best friends with Isabelle Lightwood, and her brother, Alec Lightwood, was Jace's parabatai. Clary was friends with Alec, but he didn't spend too much time at the New York Institute. He and Jace were pretty elusive, taking their orders directly from the Clave and setting off on missions around the globe. And even when they were in New York, they spent most of the time with Magnus, Alec's boyfriend.

The girls at the Institute loved to talk about Jace—so did a lot of the guys.

He was gorgeous.

He was mysterious.

He was strong.

He had been the youngest Shadowhunter to be granted authority to go on solo missions.

Jace was famous for a different reason than Clary, though. Clary's parents, Valentine and Jocelyn Morgenstern, were two of the greatest Shadowhunters of all time. They were infamous. And then there was her Uncle Luke, who wasn't related by blood but was family for all other intents and purposes, who was a Shadowhunter turned werewolf, who was now the leader of the New York pack and had formed an alliance with the Shadowhunters. So Clary and Jonathon Morgenstern, her brother, had the eyes of everyone on them ever since they were born.

Jace's parents were the opposite.

They had gone rogue—betrayed the Shadowhunter world, and everything that it stood for, turned their back on their oath.

They killed their friends, people that they were sworn to protect, innocent lives—all in the name of gaining power.

Jace had been twelve when they were killed, and that was when the Lightwoods had taken him in. If the stories were to be believed, he was an angry child; hardly ever talking. Throwing everything he had into his training. Determined to prove that he wasn't a traitor like his parents. The older he got, the less believable the stories were. There were tales about how he would party with faeries and warlocks, and then wake up the next morning and battle a horde of demons. More than one girl claimed to have spent a night with him and would go on and on about how _good_ he was, how _sexy_ he was, how they snuggled afterward and exchanged pillow talk.

Clary didn't doubt for a second that he was good in bed.

She did, however, doubt the snuggling.

And the pillow talk.

The first time she met Jace, her and Isabelle had been ordered to convene with Jace and Alec, help them with a nest of vamps. He had nodded in her direction, his face blank as his eyes flickering over her body once, before wiping a hand over his sweaty forehead and stalking off into the night. The second time was at Magnus' apartment—or one of his many apartments—and Magnus was casting a portal for him to leave. Clary had just walked in with Simon Lewis, and they were laughing and shoving each other playfully. Jace looked over his shoulder at her, pursing his lips as his eyes narrowed imperceptibly, his expression blank other than that, before he disappeared through the portal.

The third time, though.

That was a whole different story.

It was at Magnus' again, this time at one of his parties. There was a time when Shadowhunters would never be found at a warlocks party, but things were a little different now. A lot of Shadowhunters still turned up their nose, but Clary, Isabelle and Simon were all about the parties that he threw. They were all on their way to being drunk, Simon and Isabelle practically eating each others faces off, and Clary had been entertaining herself with a seelie, Meliorn Hassouné, watching him play with magic, her eyes amused.

Jace came over to her, putting his arm around her waist and leading her away, as though they were old friends.

What they did in the spare room of Magnus' apartment was anything _but_ an exchange between old friends.

Clary had had sex before, numerous times, but nothing had compared to this. He teased her, dragging out her orgasm, forcing her body into highs that she had never reached before, sucking marks onto her skin that she was going to need to use to runes to cover up so that no one noticed.

The aftermath was a little bit awkward, but there was this soft look on Jace's face when he leaned down to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek that made her insides turn to mush.

She wasn't naive.

She didn't think that for some reason her and Jace were going to be a _thing_.

She knew all about one night stands.

So when six weeks went by and she hadn't heard from him, although she was a little disappointed, she wasn't particularly surprised. No one knew about what had happened, Isabelle and Simon had been too drunk on alcohol and magic to have been paying any attention, and Magnus and Alec had been completely wrapped up in each other, and Clary wasn't about to tell anyone.

But then all of sudden he started showing up at the Institute.

Regularly.

There was a buzz when Clary and Isabelle were sparring in one of the training rooms, and all of a sudden the girls were running their fingers through their hair as though they were a bunch of giggling teenagers all over again. Clary rolled her eyes, wondering for the umpteenth time when the new work out room would be finished so that her and Isabelle didn't need to be around the trainees. They were all so young and excitable and it was frustrating, especially on days like this. They were meant to be training to fight, Lydia Branwell was teaching them and looked as though she was getting just as annoyed as Clary and Isabelle that the girls cared more about how they looked than stepping through their paces.

When Jace walked in, there was a stoic expression on his face, his jaw set as his eyes shifting around the room, blatantly not interested in anyone. His gaze reached Clary's, and while his facial expression didn't change, there was a slight flicker in his eyes which he disguised by ducking his head and turning to talk to Maryse Lightwood. Clary felt her stomach do a weird twist as she dropped her head and then turned back to Isabelle.

She threw herself into her sparring match with Isabelle with renewed vigor, trying to ignore the heat that had nothing to do with physical exertion.

Even though Jace was at the Institute, Clary didn't kid herself that it had anything to do with her. There had been lots of whispers about the reasons why he was in New York, and not seeming to be quick to move on. Isabelle seemed just as confused as everyone else, gnawing down on one of her licorice sticks and thinking out loud as she lay on her back on Clary's bed. She had asked her brother, who had said he didn't know, but even if he did, he wouldn't tell her. He and Jace's parabatai bond was stronger than anything else.

But then Jace started coming to her bedroom, late at night, more and more frequently.

Until it was every night.

Somehow, no one knew. Which was a miracle, in and of itself, given where they lived and the trained Shadowhunters who surrounded them, but no one knew.

They still barely had anything to do with each other outside the bedroom. Jace spent a lot of his day away from the Institute, on missions or out with Alec and Magnus, but unless he was sent away by the Lightwoods or the clave on something that would take longer than the day. His cold personality deterred most people, and he gave off this vibe of being completely unfeeling and harsh. He barely spoke to anyone when he was actually in the Institute itself, his face fixed in it's usual scowl and glaring at anyone who dared to come close to him. That didn't stop girls from trying, but Clary saw the crest-fallen expressions on their faces a couple of minutes later. She had to hide the smirk on her face every time, because if anyone saw her looking that happy, there would definitely be questions. The only time they were ever seen together in public was if they went off on a mission together, and then it would be the pair of them along with Isabelle and Alec.

The iciness and disregard that he had to everyone else faded when they were in the bedroom.

Jace was soft.

Sweet.

He touched her face with smooth, loving fingers tracing down her throat and pressing open mouthed kisses against her skin. He murmured words that could only be described as love as he buried his face between her thighs, or lifted her onto his lap so that he could slide into her with a graceful rise and fall.

It was confusing, to say the least, the harsh differences between the Jace in public and the Jace in private.

But that didn't matter.

Clary was falling in love with him.

And after a year of seeing each other, he whispered those three words in her ear, confirming that he felt the same.

 _There are a couple of letters left in the next lot of these_ — _it's going to be called_ Pressing Play (Rewind and Repeat), _so keep an eye out for it_ — _and the letters are_ _A , J , K , Q , U , V , X , and Z. So send me your requests and I'll see if they're the type of song that I can work with it :)_

 _It's my birthday in a week, and it's also the last chapter of this story, so please leave one last review! Thank you all for your support through this story :)_


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